Saturday, August 25
Sacramento, Calif.
11:00 a.m.
California State University at Northridge
1-2
2
vs
3
Utah State
1-2
1
2
3
4
5
F
Utah State
25
24
30
26
15
3
CSUN
21
26
28
28
11
2
Team Stats
USU
CSUN
Kills
65
71
Errors
21
33
Attempts
151
179
Hitting %
.291
.212
Points
86.0
92.0
Assists
57
63
Aces
6
10
Blocks
15.0
11.0
Game Leaders
Kills-Aces-Blocks
Kills
24
Aces
2
Blocks
2
Kills
15
Aces
0
Blocks
4
Kills
14
Aces
4
Blocks
2
Kills
12
Aces
0
Blocks
6
Players Mentioned
DS/L
/ Women's VolleyballOH
/ Women's Volleyball
S
/ Women's VolleyballOH
/ Women's VolleyballOH
/ Women's VolleyballMB
/ Women's Volleyball
Photo by: Paul Trafecanty
Matadors Come Up Short in Five-Set Loss to Utah State
8/25/2018 1:39:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - After defeating Sacramento State in five sets Friday night, CSUNÂ women's volleyball fell in a five-set decision to Utah State Saturday morning to conclude the Hornet Invitational.
The Matadors finish the weekend 1-2 and will return to The Matadome to host North Texas in their 2018 home opener on Friday.
Led by All-Tournament selection Aeryn Owens, CSUNÂ nearly overcame a two sets to one deficit for the second straight match. Owens put down a match-high 24 kills against the Aggies, hitting .275 on 51 attacks.
The senior narrowly missed her second straight double-double by adding nine digs while also adding two aces and two blocks. Junior Morgan Salone chipped in 12 kills on .478 hitting to go with six blocks.
CSUN also received impressive performances all weekend from a host of first-year players including redshirt freshman Hannah Merjil and true freshmen Lexi McLeod and Nicole Nevarez.
Nevarez connected for a season-high 15 kills (.244) against Utah State and McLeod posted her second consecutive double-double with 14 kills and 14 digs to go with a match-high four aces. Merjil handed out 41 assists to go with five digs and one ace as the Matadors nearly won its second five-setter in three matches.
"Both five setters could have gone either way, we won last night and today didn't go our way," said CSUNÂ Head Coach Jeff Stork. "We're working through some things as a young team and going through stressful situations like this will only help us in the long run.
"We out-scored Utah State but had 11 more hitting errors which was the difference today," added Stork. "We still need to do a better job with our initial contact, but I think we had a good first tournament and learned a lot about ourselves while also figuring out what we need to do moving forward."
The Matadors, who hit .212 (71-33-179) to the Aggies' .291 (65-21-151), were within one at 21-20 following a McLeod kill in the opening set. But a CSUNÂ service error propelled the Aggies on a set-clinching 4-1 run to seal the set 25-21.
Set two would extend to extra points after Owens' kill gave the Matadors four set points at 24-20. The Aggies saved the next four set points before Owens connected again at 24-24 and her ensuing ace would even the match with a 26-24 CSUN win.
The third set would also stretch to extra points, this time coming out in favor of Utah State.
A pair of kills from Owens again set the Matadors up with set points at 24-23 and again at 25-24 but the Aggies connected for kills each time. CSUNÂ saved a pair of set points before a McLeod kill gave the Matadors another swing at the set at 28-27. But a Utah State kill out of a timeout tied the score at 28 and the Aggies then used an ace and another kill to take the 30-28 win.
Needing a win in the fourth set to extend the match, CSUNÂ jumped out to a 13-8 lead and despite Utah State coming back to take a late lead, the Matadors hung on to force a fifth set. The Aggies ultimately had a pair of match points but committed errors on each occasion and Nevarez's kill at 27-26 sent the match to a fifth set.
CSUN led 6-5 in the fifth following a McLeod kill before consecutive Aggie kills gave Utah State the lead for good. A net violation put Utah State up 11-8 but the Matadors used an Owens kill, an Aggie hitting error and a Shawnee De Oliveira ace to knot the score at 11. CSUN, however would not score again as Utah State salted away its first win by scoring the final four points.
Five Aggie (1-2) hitters reached double figures led by Gabbi Shumway's team-high 15 kills.
CSUN plays three matches next weekend as part of the CSUN-Pepperdine Challenge. The Matadors host North Texas on Friday and Idaho on Saturday before traveling to Malibu Sunday to take on Pepperdine.
#GoMatadors
The Matadors finish the weekend 1-2 and will return to The Matadome to host North Texas in their 2018 home opener on Friday.
Led by All-Tournament selection Aeryn Owens, CSUNÂ nearly overcame a two sets to one deficit for the second straight match. Owens put down a match-high 24 kills against the Aggies, hitting .275 on 51 attacks.
The senior narrowly missed her second straight double-double by adding nine digs while also adding two aces and two blocks. Junior Morgan Salone chipped in 12 kills on .478 hitting to go with six blocks.
CSUN also received impressive performances all weekend from a host of first-year players including redshirt freshman Hannah Merjil and true freshmen Lexi McLeod and Nicole Nevarez.
Nevarez connected for a season-high 15 kills (.244) against Utah State and McLeod posted her second consecutive double-double with 14 kills and 14 digs to go with a match-high four aces. Merjil handed out 41 assists to go with five digs and one ace as the Matadors nearly won its second five-setter in three matches.
"Both five setters could have gone either way, we won last night and today didn't go our way," said CSUNÂ Head Coach Jeff Stork. "We're working through some things as a young team and going through stressful situations like this will only help us in the long run.
"We out-scored Utah State but had 11 more hitting errors which was the difference today," added Stork. "We still need to do a better job with our initial contact, but I think we had a good first tournament and learned a lot about ourselves while also figuring out what we need to do moving forward."
The Matadors, who hit .212 (71-33-179) to the Aggies' .291 (65-21-151), were within one at 21-20 following a McLeod kill in the opening set. But a CSUNÂ service error propelled the Aggies on a set-clinching 4-1 run to seal the set 25-21.
Set two would extend to extra points after Owens' kill gave the Matadors four set points at 24-20. The Aggies saved the next four set points before Owens connected again at 24-24 and her ensuing ace would even the match with a 26-24 CSUN win.
The third set would also stretch to extra points, this time coming out in favor of Utah State.
A pair of kills from Owens again set the Matadors up with set points at 24-23 and again at 25-24 but the Aggies connected for kills each time. CSUNÂ saved a pair of set points before a McLeod kill gave the Matadors another swing at the set at 28-27. But a Utah State kill out of a timeout tied the score at 28 and the Aggies then used an ace and another kill to take the 30-28 win.
Needing a win in the fourth set to extend the match, CSUNÂ jumped out to a 13-8 lead and despite Utah State coming back to take a late lead, the Matadors hung on to force a fifth set. The Aggies ultimately had a pair of match points but committed errors on each occasion and Nevarez's kill at 27-26 sent the match to a fifth set.
CSUN led 6-5 in the fifth following a McLeod kill before consecutive Aggie kills gave Utah State the lead for good. A net violation put Utah State up 11-8 but the Matadors used an Owens kill, an Aggie hitting error and a Shawnee De Oliveira ace to knot the score at 11. CSUN, however would not score again as Utah State salted away its first win by scoring the final four points.
Five Aggie (1-2) hitters reached double figures led by Gabbi Shumway's team-high 15 kills.
CSUN plays three matches next weekend as part of the CSUN-Pepperdine Challenge. The Matadors host North Texas on Friday and Idaho on Saturday before traveling to Malibu Sunday to take on Pepperdine.
#GoMatadors
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