California State University at Northridge
Stanford
CSUN Takes on #17 Stanford Before Facing Three Ranked Teams at Big West Challenge
3/25/2019 9:23:00 AM | Beach Volleyball
Tuesday, Mar. 26, 2019
Zuma Beach - Malibu, Calif.
CSUN vs. No. 17 Stanford - 11:30 a.m.
Big West Challenge
Friday, Mar. 29, 2019
Pismo Beach, Calif.
CSUN vs. CSU Bakersfield - 1:00 p.m.
CSUN vs. No. 7Â Cal Poly - 4:00 p.m.
Saturday, Mar. 30, 2019
Pismo Beach, Calif.
CSUN vs. No. 6 Hawai'i - 10:00 a.m.
CSUN vs. UC Davis - 1:00 p.m.
Sunday, Mar. 31, 2019
Pismo Beach, Calif.
CSUN vs. No. 9 Long Beach State - 11:00 a.m.
CSUN vs. Sacramento State - 2:00 p.m.
In-game Twitter updates:Â @CSUNBeach
FORÂ STARTERS
The CSUN Beach Volleyball team (6-6) opens up a busy week Tuesday (Mar. 26) as the Matadors travel to Zuma Beach to take on No. 17 Stanford in a single dual match at 11:30 a.m. CSUN then travels to Pismo Beach for the third annual Big West Challenge where the Matadors will play six dual matches over three days (Mar. 29-31). CSUN opens with CSU Bakersfield Friday at 1 p.m. before taking on Cal Poly at 4 p.m. Saturday's draw has the Matadors playing Hawai'i at 10 a.m. and UC Davis at 1 p.m., before finishing up the weekend Sunday against Long Beach State (11 a.m.) and Sacramento State (2 p.m.).
Last week, CSUN split a weather delayed tri-dual against No. 13 Loyola Marymount (L, 4-1) and Colorado Mesa (W, 4-1) Wednesday at the Matador Beach Volleyball Complex.
FOLLOW YOUR MATADORS ONLINE
Follow CSUN Matadors beach volleyball on-line at the official home of CSUN athletics, www.GoMatadors.com. For road matches, related links to the match, including for any live stats, audio and video, will be posted before the match on the beach volleyball schedule page of GoMatadors.com.Â
Fans are also encouraged to check the CSUN Athletics Department's official Twitter feed (@GoMatadors) and the beach volleyball-specific feed (@CSUNBeach) for news and notes throughout the week as well as updates of matches in progress.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
Stanford, ranked 17th in this week's AVCA poll, is 6-9 this season after splitting a pair of duals against Concordia-Irvine (5-0) and No. 17 Grand Canyon (1-4) in Irvine last weekend. CSU Bakersfield is 5-6 on the season after falling to Colorado Mesa (3-2) and Washington (5-0) last weekend in Long Beach. Cal Poly, ranked seventh, is 10-5 this season after sweeping three of its four opponents at the Fight at the Fort tournament in Fort Worth, Texas last weekend. Hawai'i, ranked sixth, is 13-6 this season after splitting four matches last weekend at the Arizona State Invitational. The Rainbow Wahine fell to Pepperdine (3-2) and USC (4-1) while beating the host Sun Devils twice. UC Davis, in its first season of beach volleyball, is 2-3 and has dropped three straight matches after opening the season with a pair of wins over Sacramento State. Long Beach State, ranked ninth, is 10-4 and has won four straight after defeating Nebraska (4-1), No. 14 Stanford (4-1) and Colorado Mesa (5-0) at home last Saturday. Sacramento State is 1-6 after defeating San Francisco and falling to San Jose State twice and No. 17 Saint Mary's (Mar. 15-16) at home.
Series Histories
The Matadors and Stanford have met once previously with the Cardinal taking a tight 3-2 decision in Northridge in 2017. CSUN is 9-6 all-time against CSU Bakersfield and has split two matches with the Roadrunners this season. The Matadors dropped a 4-1 decision to CSUB in Malibu on Mar. 2 before defeating the Roadrunners, 3-2 in Bakersfield on Mar. 16. The Matadors are 2-5 all-time against Cal Poly but have dropped their last five to the Mustangs. CSUN is 0-3 all-time against Hawai'i, falling in straight sets in 2014, 2017 and 2018. The Matadors are 0-10 all-time against Long Beach State and 3-1 all-time against Sacramento State.
BIG WEST CHALLENGE HISTORY
This weekend marks the third incarnation of the Big West Beach Volleyball Challenge. The first annual was a five-team tournament held in Huntington Beach in 2017. The Matadors finished 1-3 with a victory over Sacramento State (4-1) and losses to Cal Poly (3-2), Hawai'i (5-0) and Long Beach State (5-0). Last season, the tournament expanded to six teams while moving to Livermore Community Park outside of Sacramento. CSUN finished 2-3 with wins over CSU Bakersfield (3-2) and Sacramento State (4-1). This year's tournament adds UC Davis to the field as all teams will play six dual matches over the three days.
TO RECAP
In a tri-dual that was delayed nearly three hours by rain, the CSUN Beach Volleyball team defeated Colorado Mesa after falling to No. 13 LMU to earn a split Wednesday at the Matador Beach Volleyball Complex.
The Matadors picked up the first point in the dual match with the 13th-ranked Lions as Taylor Brydon and Lauren McMurray earned their team-leading seventh win of the season. The Matador duo defeated Ella Boehle and Bozena Culo, 21-13, 21-19 in the No. 4 match. Darbi Honeycutt and Mikaela Maughan, who came in with six wins on the season, battled in the No. 2 match before falling to Sara Kovacs and Jess Prichard 21-19, 21-12. After the exhibition match ended in a 1-1 draw between CSUN's Shawnee De Oliveira and Katryn Zaloom and LMU's Sylvia Hernandez and Paige Panter, the Lions took a 2-1 lead when Megan Nash and Emma Doud held off Nicole Nevarez and Lexi McLeod, 21-8, 21-17.
Veronica Nederend and Erin Martin then clinched the dual win for LMU at No. 5, defeating Cassidy Rosso and Kailey Klein, 21-13, 21-14. Savannah Slattery and Reka Orsi Toth made the final margin 4-1 with a 21-14, 21-14 victory over Daniella Molinari and Seyvion Waggoner in the No. 1 match on center court.
When the final dual of the afternoon got started, Honeycutt and Maughan won for the seventh time this season to earn the Matadors' first point against the Mavericks. CSUN's No. 2 pair swept Macie Lachemann and Rachael Perrine 21-16, 21-12.
De Oliveira and Zaloom picked up their third win of the season in the exhibition match after dropping set one 21-19. The CSUN pair won the final two sets (21-12, 15-9) to pick up the win. Nevarez and McLeod went the distance for the Matadors' second point as the CSUN pair held off Ara Norwood and Holly Schmidt 17-21, 21-17, 15-13 in the No. 4 match.
Colorado Mesa kept the Matadors from clinching when Katie Scherr and Portia Valdez swept CSUN's Daniella Molinari and Seyvion Waggoner, 21-19, 21-12 in the No. 1 pair on center court. But the No 5 pair of Rosso and Klein picked up a straight set win over Kerstin Layman and Magdalena Dabrowski (21-16, 21-17) in the next match to go final to clinch CSUN's sixth win of the season.
Brydon and McMurray improved to 8-4 on the season with a 21-12, 21-17 victory over Lindy Dixon and Hailey Crane at No. 3 to give CSUN the 4-1 win.
BIG WEST BEACH VOLLEYBALL
This season marks CSUN's fourth season as a member of the Big West Conference in beach volleyball. The Matadors, seeded fourth in the six-team field in Hawai'i in 2018, were upset by fifth-seeded CSU Bakersfield in the opening round (3-2) before falling to No. 2 seed Cal Poly in an elimination match (5-0).The Matadors were also seeded fourth at the 2017 Big West Tournament held at Pismo Beach, but fell to Sacramento State (3-2) and Cal Poly (5-0) in their two tournament matches.
In 2016, CSUN was the third seed in the conference tournament before finishing 2-2 including a close 3-2 loss to Cal Poly in a third round elimination match at Huntington Beach. CSUN will host the 2019 Big West Tournament, scheduled for Apr. 26-27, at Zuma Beach in Malibu.
#GoMatadors
