California State University at Northridge
UC Santa Barbara
Matadors Open Big West Play at UC Santa Barbara
9/24/2019 3:58:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
CSUNÂ THIS WEEK
MATCH #13 (Big West #1)
CSUN Matadors (5-7, 0-0 Big West) at UC Santa Barbara Gauchos (10-1, 0-0 Big West)
Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2019Â - 7 p.m. PDT
The Thunderdome (6,000) - Santa Barbara, Calif.
Live Stats
Watch
In-game Twitter updates:Â @CSUNWVB
MATCH #14 (Big West #2)
No. 11 Hawai'i Rainbow Wahine (10-1, 0-0 Big West) at CSUN Matadors (5-7, 0-0 Big West)
Saturday, Sept. 28, 2019Â - 7 p.m. PDT
The Matadome (2,000) - Northridge, Calif.
Live Stats
Watch
In-game Twitter updates:Â @CSUNWVB
FORÂ STARTERS
After winning two of three matches in Phoenix to capture the Grand Canyon Classic last weekend, the CSUN Women's Volleyball team (5-7, 0-0 Big West) opens Big West Conference play Tuesday at UC Santa Barbara (10-1, 0-0 Big West). The Matadors return to Northridge to host No. 11 Hawai'i (10-1, 0-0 Big West) in CSUN's 2019 home opener Saturday 7 p.m.
Last week, CSUN swept Grand Canyon and defeated Idaho in five sets around a 3-2 loss to Omaha in Phoenix.
FOLLOW YOUR MATADORS
Both matches this week will be streamed live through Big West.TV as well as 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.Â
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 Santa Barbara (10-1) won a pair of matches last week, sweeping UCLA and topping Pepperdine in five sets at home. The Gauchos, receiving votes in this week's AVCA Top-25 poll, have won eight straight heading into conference play. Senior OH Lindsey Ruddins, the reigning Big West Player of the Week, averages a team-high 4.70 kps while freshman Tallulah Froley adds 2.67 kps on .309 hitting. UCSB is hitting .233 as a team which ranks third in the Big West.
Series: Tuesday's match is the 50th all-time between CSUN and UCSB with the Gauchos holding a 39-10 lead in the series. The Gauchos have won three straight in the series including a 3-0 win in Santa Barbara last season.
Hawai'i (10-1) had its season-opening 10-match win streak snapped with a 3-0 loss at No. 5 Baylor last weekend. The 11th-ranked Rainbow Wahine stretched its winning streak to 10 with a 3-2 win over No. 17 Missouri the night before. Freshman Hanna Hellvig leads Hawai'i with 127 kills (2.89 kps) while redshirt junior Jolie Rasmussen averages a team-high 3.46 kills per set. As a team, the Rainbow Wahine lead the Big West in hitting (.259), opponent hitting (.172) and blocks (2.88 per set).
Series: Saturday's match is the 25th all-time between CSUN and Hawai'i with the Rainbow Wahine holding a commanding 22-2 lead. The Matadors are 2-5 all-time against Hawai'i in The Matadome.
CSUN WINS GRAND CANYON CLASSIC
The Matadors captured the Grand Canyon Classic Saturday, their first tournament title since winning the Pepperdine/CSUN Challenge in 2017. The Matadors and host Grand Canyon each had two wins last weekend but CSUN earned the tournament title by virtue of Friday's 3-0 win over the Lopes. Sophomore Seyvion Waggoner, who averaged 3.77 kills per set on .302 hitting, continued her impressive early season by winning Most Valuable Player honors while sophomore Nicole Nevarez was named to the All-Tournament team. In four pre-conference tournaments, Waggoner was named to all-tournament three times. In addition to Grand Canyon, she also earned accolades at the Fresno State Invitational and the season-opening Wildcat Invitational at Weber State. The all-tournament accolades were the first in Nevarez's career as she averaged 3.00 kills and 2.38 digs in Phoenix.
MATADORS IN CONFERENCE OPENERSÂ
CSUN brings an impressive record of 24-10 (.706) in 34 previous conference season openers into Tuesday's Big West opener at UC Santa Barbara. Since joining the Big West in 2001, the Matadors are 11-7 (.611) in conference openers and have won six straight dating back to a five-set win over UC Davis in 2013. Last year, CSUN won its Big West opener in straight sets over Cal State Fullerton in The Matadome. The last time the Matadors opened a conference season on the road was 2017 when CSUN defeated the Titans in four sets (25-23, 9-25, 25-22, 25-13) in Fullerton.
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 winning the Grand Canyon Invitational: "Like a lot of tournaments, you always want to do a little better and I thought we could have come out 3-0 this past weekend. We went five with Omaha, a team that runs an offense that we struggled with but beating an 8-1 Grand Canyon team in a terrific environment was a great win. We showed a lot of composure and were steady in that environment which was encouraging."
On opening the Big West season: "We play two good teams this week in Santa Barbara and Hawai'i. Both teams have a lot of offensive firepower. Santa Barbara runs a fast offense that really gives teams problems. They had two good wins last week over Pepperdine and UCLA. Hawai'i is doing some things that are less traditional than other teams, such as not using a libero so there coming at you with an offensive mindset. Both matches this week are going to be a challenge for our team but I think we'll be up for the task. We're getting better incrementally, going from good to great takes time and I'm happy with the way we're playing."Â Â
MATADOR QUICK SETSÂ
/// With every team opening of the conference season 0-0 this week, CSUN is sixth in the Big West standings with an overall record of 5-7. The Matadors' first two opponents (UCSB, Hawai'i) sit atop the conference standings at 10-1 followed by Cal State Fullerton (8-3), UC Davis (8-5) and Cal Poly (7-5).
///Â CSUN ranks as high as fourth in the Big West in both aces (1.36 per set) and digs (15.06 per set). The Matadors are sixth in both hitting percentage (.207) and assists (11.68 per set).
 /// Individually, Waggoner ranks second in kills per set (4.21) while senior Kamalu Makekau-Whittaker is third in assists per set (10.00). Junior Makayla Bradford ranks fifth in digs per set (3.69) and redshirt freshman Lauryn Anderson ranks eighth in aces per set (0.37)
 /// Makekau-Whittaker set a career-high with 54 assists against Idaho while also setting a career-best with 15 digs. Nevarez posted a new career-high with 19 kills against Idaho and equaled her career-high with three aces against Omaha.
LOOKING AHEAD
Following conference matches against UC Santa Barbara and Hawai'i, CSUN concludes its two-match homestand against Long Beach State on Oct. 5 .
#UniteTheValley
