CSUN Falls 3-1 at Hawai'i

HONOLULU, Hawai'i - Seeking their first-ever win in the Stan Sheriff Center, the CSUN Matadors came up short in a four-set loss to Hawai'i in a Big West Conference match Saturday night.

The 25-18, 17-25, 25-20, 25-20 loss drops CSUN to 6-13 overall and 2-5 in the Big West. The host Rainbow Wahine improve to 10-6 overall and 6-1 in conference play.

KEY STATISTICS
• Senior Aeryn Owens led all hitters in the match with 13 kills, hitting .257 on a team-high 35 attacks. The senior from Rancho Cucamonga also added three aces and 10 digs for her third consecutive double-double and sixth this season.
• Junior Brianna Johnson and freshman Nicole Nevarez each added eight kills with Johnson hitting a team-high .412 on 17 swings.
• Senior libero Kristey Markle had a match-high 20 digs to go with five assists.
• As a team, the Matadors hit .212 (46-16-141) in the loss but did out-block the Rainbow Wahine 9.0 to 5.0 and posted a 5-3 lead in aces.
• Three Hawai'i hitters had 12 kills as Sarah Liva hit .500 followed by Natasha Burns at .478.

SET 1
The Matadors dropped three of the first four points before Indermill's kill from the setter spot capped a 4-0 run, putting CSUN in front 5-4. But the host Rainbow Wahine quickly answered with a 7-1 run to open up an 11-6 cushion. The Matadors stayed within four at 13-9 following an Owens kill before Hawai'i scored two straight and pulled away for the 25-18 win.

SET 2
The Matadors evened the match after jumping out to a 7-4 behind the serving of Owens. Following a kill by the Matador senior, she added three aces over a 5-0 CSUN which also featured a Johnson-McLeod co-block. Holding a slim 10-9 lead, a McLeod kill sparked the Matadors on a 6-1 run as CSUN opened up a 16-10 lead. Nevarez sent a kill off the Rainbow Wahine block and the Matadors had their largest lead of the set at 20-13 before Owens capped the win with a kill on set point.

SET 3
Looking to build on the momentum from set two, CSUN dropped eight of the first 10 points and were forced into an early timeout. After trailing by as many as seven points, Johnson's kill pulled the Matadors within four at 16-12. After the hosts pushed the lead back to six (19-13), CSUN engineered a 4-0 run to trim the lead to two. But Hawai'i outscored the Matadors 6-3 down the stretch to take a 25-20 win and a two sets to one lead.

SET 4
Needing a win to stay in the match, the Matadors were forced into an early timeout, trailing 9-4. A 4-1 CSUN run temporarily pulled the Matadors within 10-8 but Hawai'i outscored the Matadors 5-1 over the next six points to open up a 15-9 lead. The Rainbow Wahine lead swelled to nine (19-10) before the Matadors engineered a late 7-2 run, capped by a Nada Dragovic tip, to get within 21-17. Following a Hawai'i timeout, CSUN would get as close as 22-19 but could get no closer and fell 25-20.

UP NEXT
The Matadors return home this Friday, Oct. 19 to open up a two-match homestand against Cal Poly.

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Team Stats

Aeryn Owens

Brianna Johnson

Nicole Nevarez

Nada Dragovic

Players Mentioned

Nada Dragovic

Brianna Johnson

Kristey Markle

Nicole Nevarez

Aeryn Owens