California State University at Northridge
UC Santa Barbara
CSUN Travels to UCSB Before Hosting Hawai'i on Saturday
10/19/2021 1:04:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
CSUNÂ THIS WEEK:
MATCH #19Â (BIG WEST #9)
CSUN Matadors (4-14, 3-5 Big West) at UC Santa Barbara Gauchos (11-9, 7-1 Big West)
Tuesday, Oct. 19, 2021Â - 7:00Â p.m. PDT
The Thunderdome - Santa Barbara, Calif.
Watch // Live Stats
MATCH #20 (BIG WESTÂ #10)
Hawai'i Rainbow Wahine (11-5, 8-0 Big West) at CSUN Matadors (4-14, 3-5 Big West)
Saturday, Oct. 23, 2021Â - 7:00 p.m. PDT
The Matadome - Northridge, Calif.
ESPN+Â // Live Stats
In-game Twitter updates:Â @CSUNWVB
FORÂ STARTERS
The CSUN Women's Volleyball team (4-14, 3-5 Big West) squares off with the top-two teams in the Big West this week as the Matadors travel to UC Santa Barbara (11-9, 7-1 Big West) on Tuesday before hosting Hawai'i (11-5, 8-0 Big West) on Saturday. Both matches are scheduled for a 7 p.m. first serve. CSUN has won a season-high two straight matches after winning road matches at UC Davis (3-2) and UC Riverside (3-0) last week to improve to 3-5 in the Big West.
FOLLOW YOUR MATADORS
Follow CSUN Matador women's volleyball on-line at the official home of CSUN athletics, www.GoMatadors.com. All home matches will feature live stats and will be streamed live on ESPN+. 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.
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.
DIG PINK NIGHT
Saturday's match against Hawai'i will serve as CSUN's "Dig Pink" Night. In 10 years, Dig Pink has raised more than $15 million dollars for Side-Out's metastatic breast cancer clinical trials and created a community of advocates more than 9,000 teams strong. What started as our Founder Rick's two passions colliding unexpectedly, has become an experience that anyone can connect with – not just volleyball players and coaches. Side Out's greatest ambition is to cultivate life-long advocates, extending the lives of those living with advanced metastatic breast cancer, and revolutionizing the trajectory of breast cancer treatments forever.
"Breast Cancer has affected the lives of people close to me," said CSUN interim head coach Susie Terrursa. "I am happy we can work with the Side Out Foundation to promote awareness and raise money to help find a cure."
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
UC Santa Barbara (11-9, 7-1 Big West) is coming off of its first loss of the conference season but is still in second-place in the Big West at 7-1. Last week, the Gauchos swept UC Riverside on the road before seeing their seven-match win streak ended with a 3-1 loss at UC Davis.
Series: Tuesday's match is the 52nd meeting all-time between CSUN and UCSB with the Gauchos holding a 41-10 lead in the series. UCSB won both meetings in 2019 including a 3-2 win in Santa Barbara and a 3-0 win in Northridge.
Hawai'i (11-5, 8-0 Big West) swept both Cal Poly and CSU Bakersfield at home last week to remain the only unbeaten team left in the Big West. Redshirt senior Brooke Van Sickle leads Hawai'i and ranks second in the Big West averaging 3.95 kills per set. The Rainbow Wahine lead the Big West in both blocking and opponent hitting percentage.
Series: Saturday's match is the 27th meeting all-time between the Matadors and the Rainbow Wahine with Hawai'i holding a commanding 24-2 lead in the series. In the most recent meetings between the two teams, the Rainbow Wahine won in four sets in The Matadome before winning in straight sets in Honolulu.
BIG WEST STANDINGS
Two road wins last week moved the Matadors into a tie for sixth in the conference standings as the Big West season nears its midpoint. Wins at UC Davis and UC Riverside pulled the Matadors into a four-way tie with CSU Bakersfield, Long Beach State and Cal State Fullerton at 3-5. CSUN closes the first half of the Big West schedule this week against the conference front-runners, traveling to UC Santa Barbara (7-1) before hosting Hawai'i (8-0). The Matadors open the week one-game behind fifth-place UC San Diego (4-4), two games behind fourth-place UC Irvine (5-3) and three games back of third-place Cal Poly (6-2).
SENIOR SALUTE
With 24 kills in two matches last week, senior Nicole Nevarez upped her career kills total to 641. Nevarez, who ranks second on the Matadors with 157 kills this season, heads into the week averaging 2.35 kills over 273 career sets as a Matador. Nevarez, who passed the 400 career digs plateau two weeks ago, now has 429 career scoops while averaging 1.57 digs per set.
Fellow senior Lexi McLeod, who surpassed 600 digs in her Matador career two weeks ago, posted a career-high 26 digs against Cal State Fullerton last week and heads into the week with 686 career digs. McLeod ranks second on the Matadors with 207 digs this season while the senior from Bakersfield is now averaging 2.44 digs per set in her career. With 63 career aces, McLeod is within 16 aces from entering the Matadors' rally scoring era top-10. Sydney Gedryn currently ranks 10th with 79 career aces. With 106 kills this season, McLeod has now posted double figure kill totals in all three of her seasons at CSUN and now has 452 career kills. Senior Makayla Bradford added 35 digs in two CSUN wins last week to move her career total to 645 digs while averaging 3.73 digs per set over 173 career sets.
BIG WEST RANKS
The Matadors have moved into the top-10 in the Big West in all seven statistical categories for the first time this season. As a team, CSUN ranks as high as seventh this week in team blocking at 2.07 per set. Also this week, the Matadors are eighth in opponent hitting percentage (.222) and are ninth in both aces per set (1.14) and digs per set (13.36). The Matadors rank 10th in hitting percentage (.156), kills per set (11.14) and assists per set (10.11).
Individually, six Matador players rank in the conference's top-20 this week. Bradford is the highest ranked CSUN player this week, ranking ninth in digs per set at 3.86. McLeod is 15th this week in digs, averaging 3.14 per set. Redshirt freshman Taylor Hunter, who has ranked as high as fourth in blocking this season, is 11th this week averaging 0.89 blocks per set followed by sophomore Lauryn Anderson who is 15th at 0.86 bps. Anderson also ranks 15th in hitting percentage at .264 while Taylor Orshoff is 18th in kills per set at 2.65 and Nevarez ranks 17th in aces at 0.21 per set.
MATADOR QUICK SETS
Senior Seyvion Waggoner had her best match of the season in CSUN's 3-2 win at UC Davis. Waggoner put down a season-high 13 kills on 22 swings to hit .409. She reached double figures in kills for the first time this season and 20th time in her career ... With 54 kills at UC Davis, the Matadors matched their team season-high which they also accomplished in four sets against Cal State Fullerton on Oct. 8 ... With 103 kills and just 33 errors in 247 attacks, the Matadors hit a combined .283 in two wins last week to improve their hitting to .156.
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
Following Tuesday's road match at UC Santa Barbara and Saturday's home contest with Hawai'i, the Matadors close the month of October with road matches at UC San Diego (Oct. 29) and UC Irvine (Oct. 30).
#UniteTheValley
