Haake, Owens Lead Matador Sweep of UC Riverside

NORTHRIDGE, CA - Julie Haake and Aeryn Owens each put down a team-high 14 kills to propel the CSUN Matadors to a straight-set (25-22, 25-22, 25-19) victory over visiting UC Riverside Tuesday night in The Matadome.

The sweep, CSUN's first since Sept. 2 over Sacramento State, improves the Matadors to 8-15 overall and 4-7 in the Big West.

Owens hit .379 on 29 attacks while Haake hit .265 on a team-high 34 swings. Freshman Morgan Salone also had a solid match with six kills on eight errorless swings to hit .750. As a team, CSUN hit a season-high .333 (48-12-108) behind 39 assists from junior setter Lauren Conati.

"Pushing our hitting percentage up that high is a good thing," said CSUN head coach Jeff Stork. "But we've got to figure out a way to shore up our team blocking and slow down the other teams' offense. Lauren is getting better with her decision making and overall it was a good win for us tonight."

Conati and Katie Sato each had two aces as the Matadors had six aces in the win. Sato led CSUN on defense with 17 digs while Salone added three blocks as the Matadors out-blocked the HIghlanders 6.0 to 3.0.

CSUN led early 7-3 in the opening set following a Haake kill. After the visiting Highlanders closed to within 7-5, the Matadors rolled off seven consecutive points to open up a seemingly comfortable 14-5 lead. Following a UCR timeout, the Highlanders answered with a 3-0 run before CSUN again pushed the lead back to eight at 18-10.

With the Matadors in front 20-12, the visitors engineered a late rally to get within 24-22 but Sato dug a Highlander overpass which eventually landed on the Highlanders' side ending the set 25-22.

UC Riverside held an 8-7 lead in the second frame when the Matadors took advantage of a pair of Haake kills and some key blocks to open up a 14-11 behind a 7-3 run. With CSUN still leading by three at 17-14, the Highlanders scored four unanswered points to take an 18-17 lead.

Kills from Owens and Haake put the Matadors back in front and CSUN would not relinquish the lead and claimed the set by the identical score of 25-22.

The Highlanders held a pair of four-point leads in the final set, the final time at 9-5, when five straight CSUN points put the Matadors in front to stay. Leading 11-10, CSUN won seven of the next 10 points to increase the lead to 18-13. UCR battled back to within two at 18-16 and again at 19-17 when the Matadors outscored the Highlanders 6-2 down the stretch.

Mickayla Sherman led the Highlanders (6-16, 1-9) with a match-high 15 kills while Cristina Maietta added 13.

CSUN next travels to Honolulu to take on the 15th-ranked Rainbow Wahine at the Stan Sheriff Center Saturday at 10 p.m. PDT.

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Haake, Owens Lead Matador Sweep of UC Riverside

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Team Stats

Aeryn Owens

Julie Haake

Morgan Salone

Nada Dragovic

Players Mentioned

Lauren Conati

Julie Haake

Aeryn Owens

Morgan Salone

Katie Sato