California State University at Northridge
UC Riverside
Matadors Open Two-Match Road Trip at UC Riverside
10/9/2019 2:01:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
CSUNÂ THIS WEEK:
MATCH #16Â (Big West #4)
CSUN Matadors (5-10, 0-3 Big West) at UC Riverside Highlanders (5-10, 1-3 Big West)
Thursday, Oct. 10, 2019Â - 7 p.m. PDT
SRC Arena (3,168) - Riverside, Calif.
Live Stats
Watch
In-game Twitter updates:Â @CSUNWVB
MATCH #17Â (Big West #5)
CSUN Matadors (5-10, 0-3Â Big West) at UC Davis Aggies (10-7, 2-2 Big West)
Sunday, Oct. 13, 2019Â - 2Â p.m. PDT
The Pavilion (8,000) - Davis, Calif.
Live Stats
Watch
In-game Twitter updates:Â @CSUNWVB
FORÂ STARTERS
The CSUN Women's Volleyball team (5-10, 0-3 Big West) heads back on the road this week or a pair of Big West matches beginning Thursday at UC Riverside (5-10, 1-3 Big West). The Matadors conclude the week with a rare Sunday afternoon match at UC Davis (10-7, 2-2 Big West) at 2 p.m. CSUN is still seeking its first conference victory after falling in four sets to Long Beach State last Saturday in The Matadome.
FOLLOW YOUR MATADORS
Both matches this week will be streamed live through Big West.TV and will also have live stats (links available at GoMatadors.com). 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 OPPONENTS
UC Riverside (5-10, 1-3 Big West) has dropped three straight after opening the conference season with a 3-1 win over Cal State Fullerton (Sept. 24). The Highlanders have since been swept by UC Davis, Cal Poly and UC Santa Barbara. Offensively, freshman OH Amarachi Osuji leads UC Riverside averaging 2.96 kills per set while fellow freshman Ashley Dittmann adds 2.85 kps. The Highlanders are hitting .185 as a team which ranks seventh in the Big West.
Series: Thursday's match is the 79th all-time between CSUN and UC Riverside with the Matadors holding a 57-21 lead in the series. UCR snapped a six-match CSUN win streak with a 3-2 win in Riverside last season.
UC Davis (10-7, 2-2 Big West) had its three-match winning streak snapped with road losses at UC Santa Barbara (3-0) and Cal Poly (3-2) last week. The Aggies opened Big West play with home wins over UC Irvine (3-2) and UC Riverside (3-0). Senior OH Lauren Matias averages a team-high 3.49 kps which ranks seventh in the Big West. As a team, UC Davis is hitting .238, tied for second in the conference.
Series: Sunday's match is the 33rd all-time between CSUN and UC Davis with the Matadors holding a slim 18-14 edge in the series. The two teams have split the season series in each of the last five season. The Matadors' last win Davis came in five sets in 2017.
MAKEKAU-WHITTAKER TAKES OVER BIG WEST ASSISTS LEAD
Senior setter Kamalu Makekau-Whittaker has re-taken the conference lead in assists this week at 9.76 per set. With a team-leading 478 assists this season, she has moved up to eighth in CSUN's Rally Scoring era (2001-) with 944 career assists. The setter from Hilo, Hawai'i began her final season with 466 career assists and has moved past Maddie Leiphardt (535) and Erin Indermill (672) this season. With 49 more assists, Makekau-Whittaker will pass Steffi Miller who is seventh with 992. Makekau-Whittaker needs 231 more assists this season to reach the all-time CSUN top-10. Currently, Sydney Gedryn and Laura Woiemberghe share 10th-place on the career list with 1,175 assists.
SALONE MOVES UP CAREER BLOCKS LADDERÂ Â
With a team-high eight solo blocks this season, senior Morgan Salone has upped her career total to 44. Salone now ranks fifth in CSUN's Rally Scoring era and trails Becky Moores and fourth place by four. Laura Walter holds the CSUN Rally Scoring era record with 65 solo blocks. Salone now has a career blocks total of 192 which is 29 blocks from entering the top-10 in total blocks.
CSUN SEEKS FIRST CONFERENCE WIN Â
After three Big West matches, the Matadors are still seeking their first conference win. The last CSUN team to open the conference season 0-3 was the 2010 Matadors who opened 0-4 with losses to UC Santa Barbara, Cal Poly, UC Davis and Pacific. The 2013 and 2017 CSUN squads were undefeated through its first three conference matches while four other squads since 2010 opened 2-1.Â
STORK PICKS UP 250TH CAREER WIN
CSUN's 3-0 victory over CSU Bakersfield on Sept, 6 marked the 250th win of Jeff Stork's coaching career. Including his time as the interim head coach of the Pepperdine men's volleyball team, Stork currently has a career head coaching record of 250-277 (.474). Since taking over the CSUN women's program in 2002, Stork has a record of 228-271 (.457) and a Big West record of 125-151 (.453). 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 CSUN's upcoming matches, his team, and other topics.Â
On the Long Beach State match: "I knew it would be a tough match but we didn't take charge of the match as much as we should have. I think in a lot of categories we're a stronger team which makes it a little disappointing that we didn't come away with a win."
On UC Riverside and UC Davis this week: "I'm looking forward to us going on the road and playing very well this week. Riverside is 5-10 just like we are so we're kind of in the same boat. We have to put our players in the right mind-set and they have to respond in the correct way. Davis is an efficient team and they have good hitters, there's no freebies with that team."Â
MATADOR QUICK SETSÂ
/// As a team, CSUN is hitting .205 over 15 matches. Through three conference matches, the Matadors are hitting nearly the identical figure at .204. CSUN is averaging 12.30 kills per set overall and 11.69 kills per set in conference play.
/// The Matadors have won two of their last three true road matches, winning at Grand Canyon (3-0) and at Portland State (3-2) before falling at UC Santa Barbara in five sets.
/// In this week's Big West rankings, CSUN continues to rank as high as third in the conference in aces (1.25 per set). The Matadors rank fifth in assists (11.62 per set), digs (14.67 per set) and blocks (14.67) and are sixth in hitting (.206) and kills (12.33 per set).
/// In addition to Makekau-Whittaker leading the conference in assists per set, redshirt freshman middle Lauryn Anderson ranks second in aces per set (0.40), Seyvion Waggoner ranks third in kills per set (3.87) while junior libero Makayla Bradford ranks fourth in digs per set (3.59).
LOOKING AHEAD
After concluding its current two-match road trip at UC Davis on Saturday, CSUN returns to The Matadome to begin a two-match homestand against UC Irvine on Oct. 18.
#UniteTheValley
