California State University at Northridge
UC Davis
Matadors Open Three-Match Road Trip Thursday at UC Davis
10/13/2021 4:23:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
CSUNÂ THIS WEEK:
MATCH #17Â (BIG WEST #7)
CSUN Matadors (2-14, 1-5 Big West) at UC Davis Aggies (5-12, 1-5 Big West)
Thursday, Oct. 14, 2021Â - 5:00Â p.m. PDT
University Credit Union Center - Davis, Calif.
Watch // Live Stats
MATCH #18Â (BIG WESTÂ #8)
CSUN Matadors (2-14, 1-5 Big West) at UC Riverside Highlanders (4-12, 0-6 Big West)
Saturday, Oct. 16, 2021Â - 5:00 p.m. PDT
SRC Arena - Riverside, Calif.
Watch // Live Stats
In-game Twitter updates:Â @CSUNWVB
FORÂ STARTERS
The CSUN Women's Volleyball team (2-14, 1-5 Big West) opens up a three-match road swing this week as the Matadors take on UC Davis (5-12, 1-5 Big West) Thursday at the University Credit Union Center in Davis and UC Riverside (4-12, 0-6 Big West) Saturday at SRC Arena in Riverside. The Matadors are looking for continued for success away from home this week after picking up their first road victory two weeks ago at CSU Bakersfield. Last week, CSUN dropped matches to Cal State Fullerton (3-1) and Long Beach State (3-1) in The Matadome.
FOLLOW YOUR MATADORS
Follow CSUN Matador women's volleyball online at the official home of CSUN athletics, www.GoMatadors.com. All home matches will feature live stats and will be streamed live on ESPN+ with Ghizal Hasan handling the play-by-play. Darren Preston will handle the internet radio call for all home matches. 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 Davis (5-12, 1-5 Big West) has dropped five straight heading into matches against CSUN and UC Santa Barbara this week. The Aggies are coming off a 3-0 loss at home to Cal Poly as Josephine Ough and Olivia Utterback each collected eight kills. Ough leads the Big West in hitting with a .421 hitting percentage. As a team, UC Davis ranks sixth in the conference in hitting at .214.
Series: Thursday's match is the 35th meeting all-time between CSUN and UC Davis with the Matadors holding a slight 19-15 edge in the series. The two teams split to most recent matches in 2019 with each team winning on its home court. The Aggies won in five sets in Davis, while the Matadors won in straight sets in Northridge. CSUN is 8-8 all-time against the Aggies in Davis.
UC Riverside (4-12, 0-6 Big West) had dropped seven straight dating back to a straight-set loss to San Diego State on Sept. 18. Last week, the Highlanders lost to Cal Poly (3-0) and CSU Bakersfield (3-2) as Dejah Dade and Zoey Seput each had double-doubles vs. CSUB. UCR, which hosts UCSB on Thursday, ranks 10th in the Big West in hitting at .143. Amarachi Osuji leads the Big West, averaging 0.43 aces per set.
Series: Saturday's match is the 81st meeting all-time between the Matadors and the Highlanders with CSUN holding a commanding 59-21 lead in the series. The Matadors won both of the most recent matches (2019) in straight sets and have claimed eight of the last nine matches against the Highlanders.
ORSHOFF SETS CAREER-HIGH VS. CAL STATEÂ FULLERTON
Taylor Orshoff set a new career-high with 17 kills while taking a career-high 52 swings in the Matadors' 3-1 loss to Cal State Fullerton on Friday. The sophomore from Riverside had a previous career-high of 15 kills set against Portland State as a freshman in 2019. Her previous career-high in attacks was 47 in CSUN's 3-2 win over Campbell earlier this season. Orshoff leads the Matadors this season with 147 kills and 455 total attacks. She is averaging 2.53 kills per set overall but ups that number to 2.82 kills per set in Big West matches.
SENIOR SALUTE
With 18 kills in two matches last week, senior Nicole Nevarez surpassed 600 kills in her Matador career. Nevarez, who ranks second on the Matadors with 133 kills this season, heads into the week with 617 career kills, averaging 2.33 kills over 265 career sets. Nevarez, who passed the 400 career digs plateau last week, opens the week with 414 career scoops. Fellow senior Lexi McLeod, who surpassed 600 digs in her Matador career last week, posted a career-high 26 digs against Cal State Fullerton and heads into the week with 659 career scoops. McLeod ranks second on the Matadors with 180 digs this season while the senior from Bakersfield is now averaging 2.41 digs per set in her career. With 59 career aces, McLeod is within 20 aces from entering the Matadors' rally scoring era top-10. Sydney Gedryn currently ranks 10th with 79 career aces. With 91 kills this season, McLeod has also boosted her career kills total to 437.
BIG WEST RANKS
The Matadors rank in the top-10 in the Big West in five statistical categories heading into this week's matches. As a team, CSUN ranks as high as seventh this week in team blocking at 2.08 per set. The Matadors are eighth this week in opponent hitting percentage (.223) and ninth in digs per set (13.28 dps). The Matadors are also 10th in aces per set (1.05) and kills per set (10.90). The Matadors rank 11th this week in both hitting percentage (.140) and assists per set (9.86).
Individually, redshirt freshman Taylor Hunter and senior Makayla Bradford are the two Matador players to appear in the top-10. After ranking as high as fourth in blocking this season, Hunter is eighth this week averaging 0.94 blocks per set. Bradford remained in the top-10 in digs for the fourth straight week as the senior ranks ninth averaging 3.79Â digs per set.
MATADOR QUICK SETS
Freshman Madison Klungel notched a season-high three blocks, including her first career solo block against Long Beach State ... Matches decided by the score of 3-1 have not gone CSUN's way this season. The Matadors have now played eight four-set matches this season and CSUN is now 0-8 after falling to both Cal State Fullerton and Long Beach State last week ... The Matadors did however set four-set season-highs in kills (54), assists (49) and digs (83) against the Titans.
TERRUSA NAMED CSUN'S INTERIM HEAD COACH
Long-time Matador assistant coach Susie Terrusa became just the seventh head coach in the program's 45-year history when she was named interim head coach on Sept. 18, 2020. She follows in the footsteps of former colleague Jeff Stork, who announced his retirement the day before. Terrusa and Stork worked side-by-side for 18 years guiding the Matadors on the volleyball court.
Terrusa, who was promoted to associate head coach in 2018, completed her 21st season as the program's top assistant coach in 2019. She was instrumental in the Matadors advancing to the second round of the NCAA Tournament in 2013 while posting 24 wins, the most by a Matador team since 1996. This marks Terrusa's second stint as CSUN's interim head coach. She was also appointed to the role on Dec. 18, 2001, after the resignation of Dr. Lian Lu, and served in that capacity until March 15, 2002. As the interim head coach, she continued the Matadors' recruiting efforts and served as the scheduling coordinator. Under Stork, she has served as recruiting coordinator and has also assisted with the daily practice routine, fundraising, community outreach and game coaching.Â
LOOKING AHEAD
After road matches at UC Davis and UC Riverside this week, the Matadors cap a three-match road trip Oct. 19 at UC Santa Barbara. CSUN returns to The Matadome on Oct. 23 to host the Hawai'i Rainbow Wahine at 7 p.m.
#UniteTheValley
