California State University Northridge Athletics
California State University at Northridge
The Master's University
CSUN Beach Volleyball Opens 2021 Season with Friday Tri-Dual
3/8/2021 12:26:00 PM | Beach Volleyball
MATADORS THIS WEEK:
Friday, Mar. 12, 2021
CSUN Beach Volleyball Complex - Northridge, Calif.
CSUN vs. The Master's University - 11 a.m.
CSUNÂ vs. Concordia-Irvine - 3 p.m.
Saturday, Mar. 13, 2021
CSUN Beach Volleyball Complex - Northridge, Calif.
CSUN vs. Vanguard - 11 a.m.
CSUN vs. Hope International - 1:30 p.m.
In-game Twitter updates:Â @CSUNBeach
FORÂ STARTERS
The CSUN Matadors officially open their eighth season of beach volleyball this Friday (Mar. 12), hosting The Master's University (11 a.m.) and Concordia-Irvine (3 p.m.) in the season-opening tri-dual. The season-opening week of play continues Saturday as CSUN hosts Vanguard University (11 a.m.) and Hope University (1:30 p.m.) in a pair of Saturday dual matches.
Friday's tri-dual against The Master's and Concordia is the first of six tri-duals the Matadors are tentatively scheduled to host in 2021. In all, CSUN will host 17 matches at the Matador Beach Volleyball Complex without fans in attendance.
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
The Master's University (3-3) opened the 2021 season by splitting a tri-dual with Ottawa University and Arizona Christian in Glendale, Ariz. (Feb. 12). The Mustangs fell to Ottawa, 3-2 in the opener before sweeping Arizona Christian. The Master's then returned home to split a pair of tri-duals, falling to Vanguard (4-1) and defeating Hope (4-0) on Feb. 20 before facing the same two teams the Mustangs opened the season with last weekend (Mar. 5). The Master's pulled out a 3-2 win over Arizona Christian before dropping a 4-1 decision to Ottawa.
Series: The Matadors and Mustangs met for the first time last season with CSUNÂ taking a 5-0 decision on Feb. 29, 2020.
Concordia-Irvine (0-2) opened the 2021 season last weekend (Mar. 7) with a pair of 5-0 setbacks at home against No. 9 California and No. 7 Loyola Marymount. The Eagles' No. 4 pair of Mia Corippo and Alexis Dirige forced a third set against Cal before falling 15-7 in the deciding frame. In Sunday's nightcap, Concordia fell in straight sets to the seventh-ranked Lions who did not drop a set.
Series: The Matadors and Eagles have met seven times in beach volleyball with CSUN holding a 6-1 advantage in the all-time series. The Matadors have won four straight duals in the series dating back to Concordia's lone win in 2017. The two teams, who did not meet in the shortened 2020 season, last met in 2019 with CSUN taking a 4-1 decision at home. The Matadors are 5-0 all-time against the Eagles in Northridge.
Vanguard (6-2) opened the 2021 season with four consecutive wins before falling to No. 17 Long Beach State (5-0) and No. 7 Loyola Marymount (5-0). The Lions bounced back with a 5-0 victory over Arizona Christian and a tight 3-2 decision over Ottawa on Mar. 6.
Series: The Matadors are unbeaten in five meetings with the Lions dating back to the 2018 season. CSUN had won four straight dual matches by the score of 5-0 before Vanguard took the No. 1 pair from the Matadors in the last meeting between the two teams in 2019..
Hope University (0-5-1)Â tied its season-opener against Arizona Christian (2-2) before dropping five straight dual matches including a 3-2 loss to Arizona Christian and a 5-0 setback against Ottawa on Mar. 6 in Huntington Beach.
Series:Â Saturday's dual match is the first-ever meeting between CSUN and Hope in beach volleyball.
2021Â CSUN BEACH VOLLEYBALL SEASONÂ PREVIEW
The Matadors continued to trend upwards under head coach Noelle Rooke during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. Rooke, now in her fourth year as head coach, has led CSUN to 37 wins in her first three seasons. In 2018, Rooke's first season, the Matadors earned a program-record 17 wins and followed up with 16 victories in 2019.
This season, Rooke welcomes back nine players who helped the Matadors to a program-best 4-1 start in 2020. CSUN opened last season with 5-0 wins over The Master's University and Cal State LA before traveling to Santa Cruz for what turned out to be the final weekend of the season. The Matadors held on for a 3-2 victory over San Francisco before sweeping Santa Clara by the count of 5-0. CSUN then met St. Mary's for the first time in program history and the Gaels handed the Matadors their first loss of the season after pulling out a 3-2 win.
"We were off to such a great start last season and built up some momentum within our program, now our challenge is to pick up where we left off last season," said Rooke. "We did lose some key players to graduation, but I'm really excited about the potential of this year's team. The bottom line is we want to put the best teams on the sand that we possibly can in every match this season."
Returning junior Lexi McLeod and departed senior Aeryn Owens finished the 2020 season unbeaten at 5-0 playing in the No. 1 pair. Three other Matador pairs won four times last season with Kailey Klein, Meagan Carter, Lauren Eknoian and Lauren McMurray all returning. Klein paired with departed senior Taylor Brydon in the No. 3 pair last season while McMurray and another departed senior Daniella Molinari finished 4-1 at No. 4. Carter and Eknoian teamed up to form CSUN's No. 5 pair, also winning four of five matches.
Darbi Honeycutt and Mikaela Maughan, who earned second-team All-Big West honors in 2019, finished 2-1 playing in the Matadors' No. 2 pair in 2020. Honeycutt and Maughan have won 19 times in one-plus seasons at CSUN, the all-time program record for a Matador pair.
McMurray opens her senior season with a career record of 36-22 and a career winning percentage of .621 which ranks second in CSUN beach volleyball history. McMurray's 36 career wins rank third in program history behind Owens (42) and Nicolette Pinkney (37).
Rooke welcomes a host of new players to the squad in 2021, including three freshmen and San Francisco transfer Victoria Rogers. Rogers played in the No. 2, No. 3, and No. 4 pairs while posting an 11-14 record for the Dons as a freshman in 2019. The trio of freshmen newcomers includes True McCullough, Emily Sparks and Annika Stevens.
BIG WEST BEACH VOLLEYBALL
2021 marks CSUN's sixth season as a member of the Big West Conference in beach volleyball. The Matadors are 4-8 all-time in the Big West Tournament which was not held in 2020 due to COVID-19.
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 State 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
The Matadors are 55-64 (.462) all-time in seven years of beach volleyball, including a 30-15 (.667) record on their home sand. 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 in 2019.
#UniteTheValley
