California State University at Northridge
Long Beach State
CSUN Wraps Up 2018 Season Saturday at Long Beach State
11/15/2018 12:11:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
MATADORS THIS WEEK:
MATCH #28 (BIG WESTÂ MATCH #16):
CSUN Matadors (8-19, 4-11 Big West) at Long Beach State 49ers (15-13, 7-8 Big West)
Saturday, Nov. 17, 2018 - 7 p.m. PST
Walter Pyramid - Long Beach, Calif.
Live Stats
Big West TV
In-game Twitter updates:Â @CSUNWVB
FORÂ STARTERS
The CSUN Women's Volleyball team (8-19, 4-11 Big West) concludes the 2018 season with a road match Saturday at Long Beach State (15-13, 7-8 Big West). First serve at the Walter Pyramid is scheduled for 7 p.m. The Matadors and the Beach meet for the second time this season after Long Beach State won the earlier in five sets in The Matadome on Sept. 22. Last week, CSUN snapped an eight-match road skid with a 3-1 victory Friday at Cal State Fullerton. The Matadors then split the week, dropping a five-set thriller at UC Riverside. Â
FOLLOW YOUR MATADORS ONLINE
All Big West Conference matches will have live stats (links available on the women's volleyball schedule page at GoMatadors.com) and all non-televised home matches this season will streamed live by the CSUN Sports Network presented by Dignity Health via Big West TV.
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 OPPOSITION
Long Beach State (15-13, 7-8 Big West) is 2-4 over its last six matches but snapped a four-match skid with a pair of 3-1 wins at UC Riverside and Cal State Fullerton last week. Tyler Spriggs, the current Big West Player of the Week, leads the Beach averaging 2.99 kills per set. Junior libero Hailey Harward averages 3.35 digs per set and was named Big West Defensive Player of the Week. The Beach rank second in the Big West in hitting at .231.
Series: Saturday's match is the 43rd all-time between the Matadors and 49ers with Long Beach leading the series 30-12. The Beach won the first meeting this season, taking the final two sets in a 3-2 win over the Matadors in Northridge on Sept. 22.
OWENS RANKS SECOND INÂ CSUNÂ HISTORY IN KILLS
After becoming the third player in school history to surpass 1,400 career kills earlier this season, senior Aeryn Owens became just the second CSUN player to reach 1,500 career kills against UC Riverside on Oct. 30. With 39 kills at Cal State Fullerton and UC Riverside last week, she has upped her career total to 1,548 kills.
The senior from Rancho Cucamonga passed Missy Clements (1991-94) three weeks ago and now ranks second only to Laura Walter in school history. Walter holds the CSUN record for career kills with 1,694 from 1998-2001. Owens opened the 2018 season ranked 11th in school history and has moved past nine players this season (Angela Hupp, Mahina Haina, Alexis Cormier, Cieana Stinson, Casey Hinger, Natalie Allen, Nancy Nicholls, Kathleen Dixon, Clements) on the Matador career kills list.Â
COLLEGIATE FAREWELLS
In addition to Owens, seniors Nada Dragovic, Erin Indermill, Kristey Markle and junior Cassidy Rosso will play their final collegiate match on Saturday.
Markle has moved into a tie for seventh in CSUN history with 95 aces which also places her third in the Matadors' rally scoring era. Markle also heads into this week's finale with 812 career digs and 165 career assists in 354 sets played. Senior Erin Indermill has played in 335 career sets and has 660 career digs and 657 career assists along with 49 aces. With 657 assists, Indermill ranks eighth in CSUN's rally scoring era. Senior Nada Dragovic has played in 316 career sets and has career totals of 424 kills, 447 digs, 35 aces and 126 blocks. In two seasons at CSUN, Rosso has appeared in 34 sets, posting 27 kills and 11 digs.
STORK CLOSES IN ON 250TH CAREER WIN
The next Matador win will be the 250th of Jeff Stork's coaching career. Including his time as the interim head coach of the Pepperdine men's team, Stork currently has a career head coaching record of 249-271 (.479). Since taking over the CSUN women's program in 2002, Stork has a record of 227-265 (.461) and a Big West record of 125-150 (.455). Stork's best season at CSUN was 2013 when the Matadors finished 24-7 (9-3), tying for the Big West regular season championship and advancing to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
COACHES CORNER
Matador head coach Jeff Stork shares his thoughts each week on the team, this week's matches and other topics.
On Saturday's season finale at Long Beach State: "I think the team certainly understands where we are in the season and my hope is that they can generate enough toughness and pride in being a student-athlete at CSUN to play the game at a high level. I've said the entire season that's it's not whether you win or lose but how you play the game. How we present ourselves as competitors, moment by moment and set by set, is probably the biggest thing to me."
MATADOR QUICK SETS
• CSUN set several team season-highs in Friday's win over Cal State Fullerton. The Matadors had 11 aces and hit a season-high .347 while putting down 64 kills, a season-high for a four-set match.
• CSUN was picked to finish seventh in the Big West Coaches Preseason Poll, but the Matadors currently sit eighth in the standings heading into Saturday's season finale. CSUN (4-11) trails seventh-place UC Riverside (4-10) by one-half game as the Highlanders finish the season with road matches at Cal Poly and UC Santa Barbara.
• Owens has been the Matador kill leader in 24 of CSUN's 27 matches this season. She was the co-leader with Morgan Salone against UC Riverside (Oct. 30) and with Nicole Nevarez at UC Santa Barbara (Oct. 2). Salone (twice) and Nevarez (once) are the two other hitters to lead the team in kills.
• Owens has now played in 409 sets in her CSUN career. Natalie Allen holds the Matador all-time record, playing in 468 sets from 2010-15
• Last week's win over UC Riverside was CSUN's second this season when trailing in team kills as well as team digs. The Highlanders had 50 kills to the Matadors' 49 and had 62 team digs to 49 for CSUN.
• CSUN finished up the 2018 home season with a 4-6 record. The Matadors were 7-4 at home in 2017 and were 8-1 on the home floor as recently at 2013.Â
#GoMatadors
