California State University at Northridge
Hawa'i
CSUN Opens Big West Championship Friday vs. No. 15 Hawai'i
4/28/2021 4:17:00 PM | Beach Volleyball
2021Â BIG WEST BEACH VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
First Round Match (Winner's Bracket)
No. 6 Seed CSUN (10-13) vs. No. 3 Seed Hawai'i (14-8)Â
Friday, Apr. 30, 2021Â - 11:00 a.m. PDT
Rosie's Dog Beach - Long Beach, Calif.
Live Results
In-game Twitter updates:Â @CSUNBeach
FORÂ STARTERS
The CSUN Beach Volleyball team is seeded sixth heading into the 2021 Big West Beach Volleyball Championship this weekend at Rosie's Dog Beach in Long Beach (Apr. 30-May 1). Seven conference teams will take to the courts in Long Beach looking to capture the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament in the fifth edition of the Big West Women's Beach Volleyball Championship.
The Matadors (10-13) will open the double elimination conference championship tournament against No. 3 seed Hawai'i (14-8) Friday at 11 a.m. The winner of the Friday's match between CSUN and Hawai'i will remain in the Winners Bracket to take on the winner of the No. 2 seed Long Beach State vs. No. 7 seed Sacramento State match at 1 p.m. The loser will play in an elimination match at 2 p.m. against the loser of the LBSU-SAC match.
Cal Poly, the defending champion (2019), is the tournament's top seed followed by Long Beach State (2), Hawai'i (3), UC Davis (4), CSU Bakersfield (5), the Matadors (6) and Sac State (7). Other first round matches on Friday include CSU Bakersfield vs. UC Davis at 9 a.m. and Long Beach State vs. Sac State at 10 a.m. Second round matches get underway at 12 p.m. with ensuing matches at 1 p.m., 3 p.m. and 4 p.m.
Saturday's action begins at 10 a.m. with the championship match scheduled for 1 p.m. or 2 p.m. if a second match is necessary.
FOLLOW YOUR MATADORS ONLINE
Live results will be available for all Big West Championship matches, check the CSUN beach volleyball schedule page for links as matches are determined. Fans can also follow CSUN Matadors beach volleyball on-line at the official home of CSUN athletics, 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.
SCOUTING HAWAI'I
No. 15 Hawai'i, the three-time Big West champions, brings a 14-8 season record into the conference championship. UH, 11-2 all-time in the tournament, has defeated each of the teams in the Big West at least once this season with the exception of Sacramento State. The Rainbow Wahine defeated CSUN, CSU Bakersfield and UC Davis at The Challenge in San Luis Obispo in late March, before taking two of three matches from Long Beach State and sweeping Cal Poly, 5-0 in Honolulu. The Rainbow Wahine have won seven of their last eight matches, including the Husky Invitational title in Seattle (Apr. 16-18). Hawai'i's No. 2 pair of Brooke Van Sickle and Amber Igiede have won eight straight matches heading into Friday's match against the Matadors.
Series: CSUN is 0-6 all-time against Hawai'i and the Matadors have yet to win a pair in those six duals. The two teams met earlier this season in San Luis Obispo with the 'Bows taking a 5-0 decision. CSUN fell to Hawai'i (5-0) at the 2019 Big West Championship, the only time the two teams have met in the conference tournament.Â
BIG WEST TOURNAMENT HISTORY
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 Championship tournament which was not held in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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. After posting wins over UC Davis (5-0) and CSU Bakersfield (3-2) and falling to Hawai'i (5-0) 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.
At the 2018 championship in Honolulu, the Matadors were seeded fourth in the six-team field but were upset by fifth-seeded CSU Bakersfield in the opening round (3-2) before being eliminated by Cal Poly in an elimination match (5-0).Â
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.Â
In 2016, CSUN was the third seed in the inaugural conference tournament in Huntington Beach. The Matadors opened with a 4-1 win over Sacramento State before being swept by Long Beach State (5-0). CSUN then pulled out a 3-2 win over CSU Bakersfield before a tight 3-2 decision to Cal Poly in a third-round elimination match.
MATADOR BEACH NOTES
CSUN heads into the conference tournament with 10 wins this season, the third-most in program history. The Matadors now have 47 wins over the last four seasons, including a program-best 17 victories in 2018.
The Matadors are 1-7 this season against the tournament field with their lone win coming over CSU Bakersfield on Apr. 24. CSUN dropped all five dual matches at The Challenge in San Luis Obispo (Mar. 26-27), falling to No. 19 Long Beach State (5-0), No. 10 Hawai'i (5-0), UC Davis (3-2), No. 5 Cal Poly (5-0) and CSU Bakersfield (3-2). The Matadors also dropped home duals to Long Beach State on Apr. 10 and Apr. 24.
At the most recent Big West Championship in 2019, Darbi Honeycutt and Mikaela Maughan went 2-2 as CSUN's No. 2 pair, picking up wins over UC Davis and CSU Bakersfield. Honeycutt and Maughan are 11-11 at the No. 3 flight this season. Lexi McLeod, who forms the Matadors' No. 2 pair with Seyvion Waggoner this season, also went 2-2 playing with Nicole Nevarez at No. 4 in 2019. Waggoner went 1-3 playing in the No. 1 pair with Daniella Molinari in 2019. Lauren McMurray, CSUN's all-time wins leader, paired with Taylor Brydon in 2019 and also finished with two wins and two losses as did Kailey Klein who played in the No. 5 pair with Cassidy Rosso. McMurray also played in the 2018 championship in Hawai'i, falling to CSU Bakersfield with Autumn Russell and falling to Cal Poly with Cassidy Rosso. This season, McMurray and Klein have 11 wins which matches Honeycutt and Maughan for the team lead.Â
CSUN's No. 1 team of Meagan Carter and Victoria Rogers will make their conference championship debut this weekend as will Emily Sparks and True McCullough in the No. 5 pair. Â
"Any time you get to compete in the post season, you train to peak and play at another level, said CSUN head coach Noelle Rooke. "The girls are still hungry to battle against the best in our conference so we are ecstatic for every opportunity we have to get better on the sand."
CSUN BEACH VOLLEYBALL HISTORY
The Matadors are 65-77 (.458) all-time in seven years of beach volleyball, including a 40-22 (.645) 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
