Matadors Drop Tough Four-Setter at Cal Poly

NORTHRIDGE, CA - After claiming the opening set 25-22, the CSUN Matadors dropped the final three sets of a tough four-set loss to Cal Poly Friday in a Big West Conference match at the Mott Athletic Center.

The Matadors and Mustangs played a close five-set match in Northridge on Oct. 1 and three of the four sets Friday were just as close.

After CSUN held several five point leads in the opening set, the last at 9-4, the hosts rallied back to within two at 13-11. Cal Poly eventually pulled even at 15 and eventually opened up a three-point lead at 20-17 when it was CSUN's turn to battle back.

A kill by Melissa Eaglin fueled a 4-0 Matador run that turned a 20-17 deficit into a 21-20 lead. The Mustangs squared things at 21-21 when kills from Julie Haake and Aeryn Owens gave CSUN the margin it needed to pull out the 25-22 win.

The Matadors came in 3-2 in matches where they win the opening set and despite trailing by six points early, CSUN was right there in the latter stages. A 6-0 Matador run trimmed the Cal Poly lead to 14-13 and CSUN still trailed by a single point when an Owens kill pulled the Matadors within 23-22. But a CSUN service error and a Raeann Greisen kill capped a set-closing 2-1 run by the hosts who took the set 25-23.

The decisive third set see-sawed back and forth as the two teams battled through 11 ties and four lead changes. With the Mustangs clinging to a 17-16 lead, the Matadors engineered a 4-0 run on kills from Owens and Morgan Salone, a Lauren Conati ace and a Cal Poly hitting error.

But an ensuing 3-0 run by the Mustangs forced a CSUN timeout at 20-20. After a Rachel Diaz kill, Cal Poly answered with three straight points to take a 23-21 lead and still led by two at 24-22. The Matadors then saved a pair of set points on a Haake kill and a Cal Poly hitting error to pull even at 24. Another Haake kill saved another set point at 25-24 but the hosts took the final two points on a kill and a block to take the set 27-25.

The Mustangs opened up an early 9-6 lead in the final set and never looked back. Leading 10-8, Cal Poly blew the set open with a 9-3 run to take an insurmountable 19-11 lead on the way to a 25-15 decision.

Owens led CSUN (6-13, 2-5 Big West) with a match-high 21 kills (.245) and 12 digs for her fourth double-double in her last seven matches. Senior Julie Haake added 15 kills on .250 hitting and also matched her career-high with five blocks including two solo stuffs. Salone added a season-high eight kills while hitting .333 on 18 attacks and Conati posted 43 assists, six digs and five blocks. Libero Katie Sato had a match-high 18 digs while Erin Indermill had 11 in the loss.

Cal Poly (13-6, 6-2) got 20 kills from Greisen who hit .436 on 39 swings.

CSUN closes out a three-match road swing Saturday as the Matadors take on UC Santa Barbara in The Thunderdome at 7 p.m.

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Matadors Drop Tough Four-Setter at Cal Poly

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Team Stats

Aeryn Owens

Julie Haake

Morgan Salone

Melissa Eaglin

Players Mentioned

Lauren Conati

Rachel Diaz

Melissa Eaglin

Julie Haake

Erin Indermill

Aeryn Owens

Morgan Salone

Katie Sato