California State University Northridge Athletics
CSUN Hosts UC Riverside Before Traveling to No. 15 Hawai'i
11/1/2016 12:51:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
THE WEEK AHEAD:
MATCH #23Â (Big West #11):
UC Riverside Highlanders (6-15, 1-8 Big West) at CSUN Matadors (7-15, 3-7 Big West)
Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2016Â - 7:00 p.m. PDT
The Matadome (2,000) - Northridge, CA
Live Stats
Live Video
In-game Twitter updates:Â @CSUNWVB
MATCH #24Â (Big West #12):
CSUN Matadors (7-15, 3-7 Big West) at No. 15 Hawai'i Rainbow Wahine (16-5, 9-1 Big West)
Saturday, Nov. 5, 2016Â - 10:00 p.m. PDT
Stan Sheriff Center (10,300) - Honolulu, Hawai'i
Live Stats
Live Video
In-game Twitter updates:Â @CSUNWVB
Weekly Match Notes (PDF)             Â
FORÂ STARTERS
The CSUN women's volleyball team (7-15, 3-7 Big West) plays its third match in the last five days as the Matadors welcome UC Riverside (6-15, 1-8 Big West) on Tuesday at 7 p.m. CSUN then boards a flight bound for Hawai'i as the Matadors will take on the 15th-ranked Rainbow Wahine (16-5, 9-1 Big West) Saturday at 10 p.m. PDT.
FOLLOW YOUR MATADORS ONLINE
Both matches this week will be streamed live on BigWest.TV. Both matches will also feature live stats (link on the women's volleyball schedule page at GoMatadors.com). All remaining Matador home matches this season will be streamed live on Big West.TV via the CSUN Sports Network.
All home matches this season will include live stats coverage at GoMatadors.com. For road matches, related links to the match, including for any live stats, audio and video, will be posted before the match on the women's volleyball schedule page of GoMatadors.com. Fans are also encouraged to check the CSUN Athletics Department's official Twitter feed (@GoMatadors) and the volleyball-specific feed (@CSUNWVB) for news and notes throughout the week as well as updates of matches in progress.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
UC Riverside (6-15, 1-8) has dropped four straight and seven of eight since opening Big West play. Last week, the Highlanders fell in straight sets at No. 14 Hawai'i and UCR is winless in eight road matches this season. Freshman Mickayla Sherman, who had a team-high 11 kills at Hawai'i, leads the Highlanders averaging 3.06 kills per set. Junior Meg Graham adds 1.99 kps for UCR which is hitting .140 as a team. Tuesday's match is the first meeting this season between the Matadors and Highlanders. CSUN holds a 52-20 lead in the all-time series dating back to 1980.
No. 15 Hawai'i (16-5, 9-1), which hosts Long Beach State on Friday, has won four straight since falling to the 49ers in five sets on Oct. 8. Last week, the Rainbow Wahine swept both UC Riverside and Cal State Fullerton on the road. Nikki Taylor leads Hawai'i and the Big West Conference averaging 4.77 kills per set. Hawai'i, 11-4 at home, holds a 17-2 lead in the all-time series which dates back to 1981. The Rainbow Wahine swept the Matadors 25-14, 25-15, 25-15 in Northridge on Oct. 6. CSUN has never won in Hawai'i in 12 matches.
SATO EARNS SECOND BIG WEST DEFENSIVE HONOR
Junior libero Katie Sato was named Big West Conference Defensive Player of the Week Monday (Oct. 31) for the second time this season after spearheading CSUN's defensive effort in a home split last week. The honor was the second in Sato's Matador career after also being honored on Sept. 26. In home matches against UC Davis (1-3) and UC Irvine (3-2) last week, Sato averaged 4.89 digs per set as the Matadors snapped a seven match winless streak with the 3-2 win over the Anteaters.
"Katie has been awesome all season," said Jeff Stork. "She has always had a very high volleyball IQ and one of the things that doesn't show up on the defensive side of the ball is that she's passing very well. She's made a lot of improvements this season."
CONATI SURPASSES 1,000 CAREER ASSISTSÂ
Junior Lauren Conati became the sixth player in CSUN's Rally Scoring era to reach 1,000 career assists. Last week, Conati added 87 assists at UC Davis and UC Irvine to reach 1,386 assists for her career. This season, Conati has passed Annie Shrieve (2000-01) and Steffi Miller (2012-14) to take over sixth place on the CSUN rally scoring era assists list. Nadine Nickel (4,798) is first on the list followed by Sydney Gedryn (3,532), Sam Orlandini (2,761), Kayla Wright (2,434) and Angela Hupp (1,718). Nickel is CSUN's all-time leader as well with Alison Wool (3,608) second. With a team-high 786 assists this season, Conati has set a new career-high for a single season. She had 291 assists as a sophomore last season and 309 assists in 11 matches as a true freshman in 2014.
CSUN GOES THE DISTANCE FOR SIX WINS
Saturday's 3-2 win over UC Irvine gave the Matadors six five-set wins this season. CSUN is now 6-2 in five-set matches but is just 1-13 in non five-set matches. The Matadors' only non five-set win came in straight sets over Sacramento State on Sept. 2. Both CSUN wins over UC Irvine this season came in five sets. The Matadors had to win the final two sets Sept. 22 in Irvine and had to win three straight Saturday in Northridge. Friday's 3-1 loss to UC Davis dropped CSUN to 0-6 in four sets this season.
COACHES CORNER
Matador head coach Jeff Stork shares his thoughts each week on the team, this week's matches and other topics.
On the play of Melissa Eaglin and Morgan Salone: "Obviously when you're a freshman playing the middle position, there's a lot coming at you. I think both Melissa and Morgan have done a good job adjusting and are getting better and better. Melissa redshirted last year so she had the opportunity to see the pace of the game. Morgan works very hard and I think we'll continue to see a lot of improvement."Â
On hosting UC Riverside and traveling to Hawai'i this week: "I hope we can put together two good matches this week. I think playing Hawai'i in Hawai'i presents a different challenge than playing UC Riverside at home but both matches provide an opportunity for us to present ourselves as competitors."Â
MATADORS: THIS & THAT
Sophomore Aeryn Owens ranks fifth on the team with 128 digs this season. 110 of her 128 digs have come in CSUN's last eight matches ... Owens and senior Julie Haake continue to spearhead the Matador offense as one of the other has been the team's leader in all 22 matches this season ... Sophomore Kristey Markle scooped up a season-high 11 digs against UC Davis ... Junior Nickeisha Williams gave CSUN a spark off the bench against UC Irvine, pounding six kills to go with three blocks over the final four sets ... The Matadors rank as high as sixth this week in the Big West team rankings. CSUN is sixth in both aces and blocks ... Saturday's win over UC Irvine snapped a seven-match skid for CSUN, its longest since dropping eight straight last season.
UP NEXT
Following Saturday's match in Hawai'i, the Matadors will have two home and two road matches remaining in the 2016 regular season. CSUN will travel to Cal State Fullerton (Nov. 8) and UC Riverside (Nov. 18) while the Matadors will host Long Beach State (Nov. 11) and Cal State Fullerton (Nov. 19) on senior day.
#GoMatadors
