California State University at Northridge
San Francisco
CSUN Heads to Santa Cruz for Big West/WCC Challenge
3/5/2020 10:08:00 AM | Beach Volleyball
Saturday, Mar. 7, 2020
Main Beach - Santa Cruz, Calif.
CSUNÂ vs. San Francisco - 8Â a.m.
CSUN vs. Santa Clara - 11 a.m.
CSUNÂ vs. Saint Mary's - 2 p.m.
In-game Twitter updates:Â @CSUNBeach
FORÂ STARTERS
The CSUN Matadors (2-0) hit the road for the first time this season as the Matadors travel to Santa Cruz for the second incarnation of the Big West/WCC Challenge.
The tournament, created by CSUN head coach Noelle Rooke in 2018, features three West Coast Conference squads (San Francisco, Saint Mary's, Santa Clara) taking on three Big West Conference teams (CSUN, CSU Bakersfield, Sacramento State). All nine dual matches will take place Saturday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Santa Cruz's Main Beach.
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
San Francisco (0-5) has dropped five straight duals to open the 2020 season. The Dons traveled to Tucson, Ariz. to open the season (Feb. 21-22); falling to Boise State (5-0), No. 15 Arizona (5-0), Missouri State (5-0) and No. 20 Arizona State (4-1) at the Cactus Classic. USF then dropped a 4-1 decision to San Jose State last Friday. The Dons' No. 1 pair of Anna Dalla Vecchia and Laurie McGrath (2-3) have both USF wins this season. Series: The Matadors and Dons have met twice previously, both in Santa Cruz, with USF winning 4-1 in 2016 and CSUN winning 5-0 in 2018.
Santa Clara (1-9) snapped a nine-match skid to open the season with a 3-2 win at home over Pacific on Wednesday. The Broncos' No. 1 pair of Michelle Shaffer and Kathryn Decker carries a team-leading 6-4 record into this weekend's tournament. Series: The Matadors and Broncos met once previously, also in Santa Cruz, with Santa Clara claiming a 4-1 win in 2016.
Saint Mary's (0-4) has dropped four straight duals to open the 2020 season, all coming against ranked foes. The Gaels opened the season with home losses to No. 11 California (5-0) and No. 14 Grand Canyon (3-2) before falling to No. 20 Stanford (4-1) and No. 5 Hawai'i (4-1) at Stanford. Jasmin Suarez and Sienna Young picked up the lone win for Saint Mary's in the No. 4 match against Hawai'i. Series: Saturday's match with the first-ever between the Matadors and Gaels.
ACCORDING TO HEAD COACHÂ NOELLE ROOKE
"We're playing some good teams this weekend and obviously we're looking to win and be successful as a conference. Santa Cruz has proven to be a great venue and a great site to host a tournament so hopefully the weather cooperates and we'll have a great day."Â
TO RECAP
The Matadors officially opened the season last Saturday (Feb. 29)Â by sweeping both The Master's University and Cal State LA as part of a tri-dual at the CSUN Beach Volleyball Complex. CSUNÂ dropped just one set in the two duals, winning 22 of the 23 sets in the two matches.
The Matadors and Mustangs opened Saturday's tri-dual as CSUN picked up wins in all five matches while also claiming the No. 6 exhibition contest. Lauren Eknoian and Megan Carter were stretched the three sets at No. 5 against Chloe Johnson and Hannah Douglas before pulling out a 21-13, 14-21, 15-8 win. CSUN then improved to 6-0 all-time against the Golden Eagles winning by the count of 5-0.
BIG WEST BEACH VOLLEYBALL
2020 marks CSUN's fifth season as a member of the Big West Conference in beach volleyball. The Matadors were the No. 4 seed in the seven-team field at the 2019 Big West Tournament at Zuma Beach in Malibu. CSUN finished 2-2 in the championship tournament, their best showing since also finishing 2-2 in the inaugural conference tournament in 2016.Â
After winning two of three matches on the opening day, CSUN came up empty against No. 3 seed Long Beach Beach on Saturday and was the fourth squad eliminated from the tournament. Cal Poly, the No. 2 seed, went undefeated in four tournament matches to capture its first conference championship along with the Big West's automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament. Hawai'i, the top seed coming in, finished second.
At the 2018 championship in Hawai'i, the Matadors were seeded fourth in the six-team field in but were upset by fifth-seeded CSU Bakersfield in the opening round (3-2). CSUN then fell 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 inaugural conference tournament before finishing 2-2 including a close 3-2 loss to Cal Poly in a third-round elimination match at Huntington Beach.Â
CSUN BEACH VOLLEYBALL HISTORY
After setting a program record for most wins in one season with 17 in 2018, the Matadors came within one victory of equaling the mark with a 16-12 record in 2019.
The Matadors have steadily improved since the induction of the sport in 2014. Playing 10 matches, all on the road in its inaugural season, CSUN finished 1-9 in 2014. The Matadors picked up their first-ever beach volleyball win on Mar. 27, 2014 when CSUN defeated Oregon (3-2) at USC's Merle Norman Stadium.
The Matadors then debuted their on-campus facility in 2015, playing 11 matches overall and four matches at home. CSUN's first-ever home match was Mar. 5, 2015 against No. 7 UCLA. CSUN won at home for the first time on Mar. 9 of the 2015 season when the Matadors defeated TCU, 4-1. CSUN ultimately upped its season win total to three culminating with a 3-8 overall season record to close the 2015 season.
The 2016 season saw the Matadors finish 8-14 before falling to Cal Poly in the third round of the Big West Tournament. CSUN then posted an overall record of 6-12 in 2017 before winning a program-record with 17 times in 2018 and posting 16 wins last season. All-time, the Matadors have a program record of 51-63 (.447).
#UniteTheValley
