Short-Handed Matadors Fall in Four Sets to Sacramento State

RENO, Nev. - Playing without two starters, the CSUN Women's Volleyball team evened the match with a dominating set two win before Sacramento State won the final two sets to defeat the Matadors 3-1 in match two of the Nevada Classic Tournament Friday at Virginia Street Gym.

Set scores Friday were 25-13, 11-25, 25-15, 25-21 as the Hornets knocked off the Matadors for the second time in eight days to improve to 5-5 on the season. The loss drops CSUN to 1-8 heading into its final non-conference match of the season on Saturday.

KEY STATISTICS
• Senior Nicole Nevarez had 13 kills to lead an incredibly young Matador lineup which at one point had five freshmen on the court. Sophomore Taylor Orshoff also reached double figures with 10 kills, hitting a season-high .400 on 20 attacks.
• Playing without starters Lauryn Anderson and Seyvion Waggoner, interim head coach Susie Terrusa turned to a pair of freshmen in Nieko Thomas and Abigail Macias. Thomas put down six kills on 16 swings (.125) in her collegiate debut while Macias had two kills (.250) along with a pair of solo blocks.
• Setters Carisa Barron and Madison Klungel combined for 36 assists as Barron had 19 while Klungel posted 17 assists, five digs and two aces. Senior libero Makayla Bradford scooped up a team-high 11 digs in the loss.
• Neither team hit particularly well for the match, although the Matadors enjoyed their best hitting effort of the season in set two, connecting at a .647 clip. CSUN committed just a single hitting error in the set but had 22 hitting errors and 13 service errors outside of the second set. For the match, CSUN hit .167 (40-23-102) compared to .182 (38-20-99) for the Hornets.
• Caitlin Volkmann led Sacramento State with a match-high 14 kills, hitting .480 on 25 swings. (.242).

COACH SUSIE TERRUSA SAID
"Taylor (Orshoff) had a good match for us hitting .400 but it's hard to win a match when you commit 36 errors. We hit .647 in winning set two so hopefully, we can build on that as we play our final non-conference match against Nevada tomorrow."

SET 1
The Hornets blew open the opening set by out-scoring the Matadors 10-2 to snap a 6-6 tie. Trailing 16-8, the Matadors got a kill from Lexi McLeod to pull within 16-9 but Sac State answered by claiming four of the next five points to open up a double-digit lead at 20-10. The Hornet lead remained double figures the rest of the set as set one went to Sac State 25-13.

SET 2
The Matadors rebounded in the second set, outscoring the Hornets 8-2 over the opening 10 points following a Bradford ace. Sac State cut the lead to four (9-5) before a Nevarez kill sent CSUN on a 5-2 run which opened up a 14-7 Matador lead. Leading 19-11 following an Orshoff kill, Layla Cederlind stepped to the service line and her ace fueled a set-clinching 6-0 run giving the Matadors the 25-11 victory.

SET 3
Neither team would lead by more than three points throughout much of the third set as the teams battled to a 14-14 tie. After a Nevarez kill knotted the score, Volkmann answered with a kill and the Hornets scored seven straight points to open up a 21-14 cushion. A kill from Macias ended the run but Sac State at 21-15 before the Hornets claimed the final four points to take the set 25-15.

SET 4
After trailing 10-2 in the early going and 18-10 late, the Matadors engineered a 9-4 run to close to within 22-19 when the Hornets were whistled for a setting error. CSUN remained within three at 23-20 and 24-21 before a hitting error sent the Hornets to the 25-21 win and the 3-1 decision.

UP NEXT
The Matadors play their final match of the Nevada Classic Tournament Saturday at 2 p.m. as CSUN meets the host Wolf Pack at Virginia Street Gym.

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Team Stats

Nicole Nevarez

Taylor Orshoff

Nieko Thomas

Lexi McLeod

Players Mentioned

Lauryn Anderson

Carisa Barron

Makayla Bradford

Layla Cederlind

Madison Klungel

Abigail Macias

Lexi McLeod

Nicole Nevarez

Taylor Orshoff

Nieko Thomas

Seyvion Waggoner