Matadors Fall to Santa Clara in Fresno State Invitational Opener

FRESNO, Calif. - Sophomore Sevion Waggoner had a match-high 20 kills but the CSUN Women's Volleyball team fell in four sets to Santa Clara in Thursday's opener for both teams at the Fresno State Invitational at Save Mart Center.

Set scores were 25-12, 25-19, 22-25, 25-17 as the Broncos remain unbeaten at 5-0. The loss drops the Matadors to 0-4.

KEY STATISTICS
• Waggoner, who averaged 4.33 kills per set at the Wildcat Invitational last weekend, led all hitters with 20 kills against Santa Clara on Thursday. The sophomore outside hitter, who also had two aces and five digs, took a season-high 51 swings in the loss.
• Redshirt freshman Lauryn Anderson added nine kills on .375 hitting to go with a pair of blocks while sophomore Nicole Nevarez chipped in eight kills (.103) and a career-high 12 digs.
• Sophomore Hannah Merjil started for the Matadors at setter and handed out 31 assists to go with 13 digs, her fifth career double-double.
• Santa Clara out-hit the Matadors .343 to .186 while out blocking CSUN 7.0 to 3.0.
• Taylor Odom led Santa Clara with 13 kills on .600 as three Broncos reached double figures in kills.

COACH JEFF STORK SAID
"Santa Clara is probably the best team we've faced this year but it was encouraging that we got better and better as the match wore on. We had a great third set and we hung tough down the stretch. The team made some good calls and there was some good decision-making. We simply got beat tonight, we didn't lose."

SET 1
The Matadors dropped five of the first six points of the match but battled back to within 7-4 following one of Waggoner's two aces. The Broncos stuffed an Anderson attack boosting the lead to 11-5. Waggoner's kill kept the margin at 15-7 before Santa Clara all but sealed the set with a 4-0 run. Another Waggoner kill saved one set point before the Broncos took the opening set 25-12.

SET 2
After a Nevarez kill gave CSUN an early 6-5 lead, the Broncos scored four straight to force a Matador timeout. Santa Clara extended the lead to five at 12 -7 before Matadors battled back to within one following a Lexi McLeod ace. CSUN remained within one on a host of occasions, the final time at 18-17, when Santa Clara put together a 4-1 run to lead 22-18. Leading 24-19, the Broncos put up a block on Waggoner's attack to open up a two-set lead following the 25-19 win.

SET 3
With the score tied at 11, Santa Clara tallied three straight points to open up a 14-11 cushion. Following a CSUN timeout, the Matadors rallied behind a pair of Nevarez kills to pull within one at 16-15. After the Broncos scored three straight to lead 19-15, kills by McLeod and Waggoner and a Nevarez ace trimmed the deficit to 19-18. The Matadors still trailed by one at 21-20 when Waggoner connected for a kill followed by an Anderson kill and solo block which gave CSUN its first lead of the match 23-21. Following a Bronco timeout, the Matadors claimed two of the final three points to seat the 25-22 win.

SET 4
Santa Clara quickly built a 5-1 lead in the final set before a 3-0 run extended the lead to as many as six (16-10). Waggoner's 20th kill kept CSUN within range at 18-14 but another 3-0 run by the Broncos increased the lead to 21-14. Trailing 23-15, the Matadors scored twice before Santa Clara took advantage of a kill and a CSUN hitting error to close the match 25-17.

UP NEXT
The Matadors wrap up the Fresno State Invitational with a pair of matches on Friday. CSUN takes on the host Bulldogs at 10 a.m. before taking on CSU Bakersfield at 4:30 p.m.

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Team Stats

Seyvion Waggoner

Lauryn Anderson

Nicole Nevarez

Hannah Merjil

Players Mentioned

Lauryn Anderson

Lexi McLeod

Hannah Merjil

Nicole Nevarez