California State University at Northridge
CSU Bakersfield
CSUN Hosts CSU Bakersfield, #18 Long Beach State in Final Tri-Dual of 2021
4/21/2021 7:49:00 PM | Beach Volleyball
MATADORS THIS WEEK:
Saturday, Apr. 24, 2021
CSUN Beach Volleyball Complex - Northridge, Calif.
CSUNÂ vs. CSU Bakersfield - 11:00 a.m.
CSU Bakersfield vs. #18Â Long Beach State - 1:00 p.m.
CSUN vs. #18Â Long Beach State - 3:00 p.m.
In-game Twitter updates:Â @CSUNBeach
FORÂ STARTERS
The CSUN Matadors (9-12) wrap up the 2021 regular season as well as an 18-match home schedule this Saturday, hosting CSU Bakersfield and No. 18 Long Beach State in a tri-dual at the CSUN Beach Volleyball Complex. The Matadors, 9-7 on their home sand this season, played a pairs tournament against the Roadrunners in Bakersfield last Friday with Darbi Honeycutt and Mikaela Maughan taking home Gold Bracket champion honors after finishing a perfect 5-0.
FOLLOW YOUR MATADORS ONLINE
Follow CSUN Matadors beach volleyball online 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. 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.
On Apr. 19, CSUN Athletics announced that limited spectators would be able to attend the final home spring events of 2021. For beach volleyball, fans will not be allowed to enter the CSUN Beach Volleyball Complex but can watch Saturday's tri-dual from outside of the complex. Fans planning on attending the tri-dual are required to follow the CSUN campus COVID guidelines and will have to bring their own chair.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
CSU Bakersfield (4-6) has won three straight dual matches, including a 3-2 win over the Matadors in San Luis Obispo (Mar. 27). The Roadrunners took a pair of duals over Concordia in Bakersfield (Apr. 9) to improve to 3-1 at home. In addition to CSUN's Honeycutt and Maughan, CSUB's Emily Hansen and Hana Makanova and Brooke Boiseau and Anna Unke won Bracket championships at last week's pairs tournament against the Matadors.
Series: Dating to 2014, the Matadors and CSU Bakersfield have met 18 times in beach volleyball with CSUN holding an 11-7 edge in the series. The Roadrunners' 3-2 win in San Luis Obispo earlier this season snapped the Matadors' four-match win streak over CSUB. CSUN is 5-1 all-time against CSU Bakersfield at home.
No. 18 Long Beach State (14-12) has also won three straight heading into this Saturday's final regular-season tri-dual. The Beach defeated the Matadors as part of a tri-dual with Grand Canyon on Apr. 10 before sweeping St. Katherine twice at home on Apr. 15.
Series:Â The Matadors and Beach have met twice this season and 14Â times in beach volleyball with Long Beach winning all 14Â previous matches. The teams met on Mar. 26 in San Luis Obispo with the Beach taking all five pairs. Long Beach then won 4-1 in Northridge on Apr. 10 with CSUN's True McCullough and Emily Sparks claiming a win at No. 5 for the Matadors' only match win.
SENIOR DAY
CSUN beach volleyball will honor its two seniors, Lauren McMurray and Meagan Carter following Saturday's tri-dual. McMurray, a four-year letterwinner from 2018-21, is CSUN's all-time leader in wins with 46. McMurray has paired with Autumn Russell (2018), Cassidy Rosso (2018), Taylor Brydon (2019), Daniella Molinari (2020) and Kailey Klein (2021) over her career and has an all-time pairs record of 46-33 (.582). She earned honorable mention All-Big West honors along with Brydon in 2019.
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"Lauren holds a special place in my heart, and our program, as she is my first ever beach-only commit," said head coach Noelle Rooke. "She is a three-year captain and has truly been the best ambassador for CSUN and our beach program. She has an innate ability to juggle and manage being a top-notch student-athlete, along with all of her extracurricular activities she has added to her plate; she is the President of the Construction Management Club on campus, the Vice President of SAAC, and works part-time as an engineer as she has already landed her dream job that she will start fulltime in June after she graduates. Most importantly, Lo is just an awesome human being to be around as her heart is so full of love and admiration for people and life."Â
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Carter is a two-year letterwinner after transferring from Houston Baptist prior to the 2020 season. She has paired with Lauren Eknoian her entire CSUN career and the duo has posted 11 wins over two seasons, finishing 4-1 in 2020 and 7-13 this season.Â
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"Meagan's passion for beach volleyball has been on full display the past two seasons as I am so thankful she chose to come back close to home to finish her collegiate career," added Rooke. "She is a true competitor who plays with an edge and has the unique ability to dissect the game. She used the time off during the pandemic to go to the beach every day and hone her skillset and craft and because of her pure determination to be the best she can be, has reaped the benefits of raising her level of play this season. I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Meagan on a deeper level as she is a very bright young woman who will lead a very successful post-graduate career."
TO RECAP
CSUN's Darbi Honeycutt and Mikaela Maughan won all five matches to claim the Gold Bracket championship Friday (Apr. 16) in a pairs tournament at CSU Bakersfield's Barnes Beach Volleyball Complex..
POOL PLAY
CSUN and CSU Bakersfield split their six pairings across three different pools to open the tournament. Honeycutt and Maughan joined teammates True McCullough and Emily Sparks in Pool 1. McCullough and Sparks dropped their opener to 15-13 to Cameron Solberg and Milica Vukobrat. Honeycutt and Maughan then defeated Hayley McCluskey and Mapuhola Sekona by the score of 15-8. The CSUN pair then went extra points to hold off Solberg and Vukobrat, 18-16 before taking the top record in pool play with a 15-12 win over McCullough and Sparks which finished 0-3 in pool play.
In Pool 2, CSUN's pair of Lexi McLeod and Seyvion Waggoner finished second despite finishing 1-2. McLeod and Waggoner fell to Seleisa Elisaia and Alaina Gendale, 15-7 before dropping a 15-12 decision to Emily Hansen and Hana Makonova. Victoria Rogers and Abbey Sweeting also played in Pool 2, falling to Hansen and Makanova, 15-3 before defeating  Elisaia and Gendale, 15-9. McLeod and Waggoner picked up a 16-14 win over Rogers and Sweeting to claim second in the pool.
In Pool 3, the Matadors again claimed second as the pair of Lauren McMurray and Kailey Klein finished 2-1. The CSUN duo defeated Jazleigh Ortiz and Ericka Snopko, 15-12 before falling 15-13 to Brooke Boiseau and Anna Unke. McMurray and Klein wrapped up pool play with a 16-14 victory over teammates Meagan Carter and Lauren Eknoian. Carter and Eknoian would finish 0-3 with ensuing hard-fought losses to Boiseau and Unke (16-14) and Ortiz and Snopko (15-13).
BRACKET PLAY
After pool play was completed, the pairs were then ranked into three new pools, Gold, Silver, and Bronze, based on their performances. A final Round Robin circle would then produce three champions representing each pool.
Honeycutt and Maughan were drawn into the Gold Bracket and claimed two more wins giving the CSUN pair a 5-0 record on the day. They opened with a 21-14 victory over Boiseau and Unke (B3) 21-14 before claiming the bracket with a 21-18 victory over Hansen and Makonova. In the Silver Bracket, McMurray and Klein finished 1-1 to claim second place while McLeod and Waggoner took third. McMurray and Klein topped McLeod and Waggoner, 21-18 before falling to bracket winners Solberg and Vukobrat, 22-20. McLeod and Waggoner finished 0-2 in bracket play with a 21-13 setback to Solberg and Vukobrat. CSUN did not qualify a team into the Bronze Bracket to complete the final round of play.
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 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 64-76 (.457) all-time in seven years of beach volleyball, including a 39-21 (.650) 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.
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