CSUN Dropped in Straight Sets by UC Irvine

Saturday, October 31

Irvine, Calif.

7:00 p.m.

California State University at Northridge

5-17, 4-6BWC

UC Irvine

11-12, 5-6BWC

Team	1	2	3	Final F
CSUN	22	12	23	0
UC Irvine	25	25	25	3

Photo by: Jeff Golden

CSUN Dropped in Straight Sets by UC Irvine

10/31/2015 9:04:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

NORTHRIDGE, CA - The CSUN Matadors dropped a straight set decision to UC Irvine in a Big West match Saturday night at the Bren Center.

Set scores were 25-22, 25-12, 25-23 as the Matadors fall to 5-17 overall and 4-6 in the Big West.

Junior Julie Haake led CSUN offensively with nine kills (.231) but the Matadors couldn't replicate their season-best .476 hitting in sweeping the Anteaters at home on Sept. 25. CSUN was limited to .200 (35-15-100) hitting Saturday as senior Cieana Stinson added eight kills (.211) and Nada Dragovic had seven (.208).

Defensively, CSUN surrendered double figures in aces to its opponent for the fourth consecutive match as UCI had 11 to the Matadors' five. The Anteaters had 11 more kills than CSUN while hitting .298 (46-12-114) as a team.

The Matadors gave up the first six points in the opening set before a Dragovic kill ended the run. Playing from behind throughout, CSUN got within one at 13-12 when an Anteater attack went wide. The Matadors were still within one at 19-18 when four straight UCI points put the set out of reach.

A Kristey Markle ace cut the Anteater lead to 3-2 early in set two before UCI put together a 6-0 run and CSUN could not recover. The Matadors hit just .094 in the frame while the Anteaters connected at a .480 clip to win easily 25-12.

Needing a win in set three to stay in it, CSUN took a 9-6 lead on a Stephanie Serna Arreola kill. The lead was still three (10-7) when Serna Arreola and Maddie Leiphardt teamed up to stuff a UCI attack. The Anteaters then engineered a 7-2 run to take back the lead 14-12. It was CSUN's turn to wrestle the lead 11 points later when Haake's kill put the Matadors back on top 19-18. The teams traded sideouts until 21-21 when a UCI kill followed by a Stinson hitting error gave the Anteaters the two point lead. But a pair of UCI miscues knotted the score for the final time (23-23) when a kill and a block gave the hosts the 25-23 win.

Harlee Kekauoha led UC Irvine with 20 kills while hitting .531 as the Anteaters improved to 11-12 overall and 5-6 in conference play.

CSUN concludes its three match road trip next Tuesday (Nov. 3) as the Matadors travel to UC Riverside at 7 p.m.

- GOMATADORS.COM -