California State University at Northridge
UC Irvine
Matadors Host UC Irvine, UC San Diego to Open Conference Season
9/22/2021 4:22:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
CSUNÂ THIS WEEK:
MATCH #11Â (BIG WEST #1)
UC Irvine Anteaters (7-3, 0-0 Big West) at CSUN Matadors (1-9, 0-0 Big West)
Friday, Sept. 24, 2021Â - 7:00Â p.m. PDT
The Matadome - Northridge, Calif.
ESPN+ //Â Live Stats
MATCH #12Â (BIG WESTÂ #2)
UC San Diego Tritons (3-8, 0-0 Big West) at CSUN Matadors (1-9, 0-0 Big West))
Saturday, Sept. 25, 2021Â - 7:00 p.m. PDT
The Matadome - Northridge, Calif.
ESPN+ //Â Live Stats
In-game Twitter updates:Â @CSUNWVB
FORÂ STARTERS
The CSUNÂ Women's Volleyball team (1-9, 0-0 Big West) plays in The Matadome for the first time this season as the Matadors host UC Irvine (7-3, 0-0) and UC San Diego (3-8, 0-0) in the Big West opening weekend. CSUN opens against UC Irvine Friday at 7 p.m. before welcoming UC San Diego to The Matadome Saturday at 7 p.m. The Matadors look to snap an eight-match skid this weekend after dropping a pair of matches at the Nevada Classic Tournament last weekend.
FOLLOW YOUR MATADORS
Follow CSUN Matador women's volleyball online at the official home of CSUN athletics, www.GoMatadors.com. All home matches will feature live stats and will be streamed live on ESPN+ with Ghizal Hasan handling the play-by-play. Darren Preston will handle the internet radio call for all home matches. 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.Â
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.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
UC Irvine (7-3) has won three straight and four of its last five matches heading into Friday's conference opener. The Anteaters swept California Baptist 3-0 (28-26, 25-20, 25-21) last Saturday behind Onye Ofoegbu's 16 kills on .615 hitting. Ofoegbu leads UCI averaging 3.66 kills per set while the Anteaters are hitting .272 as a team which leads the Big West.
Series: Friday's match is the 60th meeting all-time between the Matadors and Anteaters with CSUN holding a slim 30-29 edge in the series. The Matadors claimed the most recent meetings between the two teams in 2019, winning in five sets in Northridge and in five sets Irvine.
UC San Diego (3-8) has won three of its last five matches after opening the season with six straight losses. The Tritons split their final two non-conference matches last week, winning in five sets at San Francisco before dropping a 3-1 decision at San Jose State. Sophomore MB Ava McInnes leads UCSD averaging 2.71 kills per set while fellow middle Emily McDaniel adds 2.43 kps on .229 hitting.
Series: Saturday's match is the 11th meeting all-time between the Matadors and Tritons but the first in 21 years. The newest member of the Big West last played CSUN in women's volleyball during the 2000 season when the Matadors won in straight sets in The Matadome. CSUN has not lost in 10 previous meetings dating back to 1982.
ORSHOFF NAMED ALL-TOURNAMENT at NEVADA
Sophomore Taylor Orshoff represented CSUN on the Nevada Classic All-Tournament team last weekend. Orshoff, a 6-1 outside/opposite hitter from Riverside (Martin Luther King HS), hit a robust .395 in CSUN's two matches in Nevada. She tied for match-high honors with 13 kills, hitting .391 on 23 attacks to go with four blocks and one dig in CSUN's 3-1 loss to the host Wolf Pack on Saturday. The previous night, Orshoff also reached double figures with 10 kills, hitting a season-high .400 on 20 attacks. In the two matches, Orshoff had 23 kills on 43 swings to hit .395.
MATADORS INÂ CONFERENCE/HOME OPENERS
CSUN brings an impressive record of 24-11 (.686) in 35 previous conference season openers into Friday's Big West opener vs. UC Irvine. Since joining the Big West in 2001, the Matadors are 11-8 (.579) in conference openers despite having their streak of six straight conference-opening wins snapped in a five-set loss at UC Santa Barbara to open the 2019 conference slate. After opening the 2019 conference season on the road, CSUN last opened the conference campaign at home, posting a straight-set win over Cal State Fullerton in The Matadome in 2018 ... The Matadors are 20-21 (.488) all-time in home openers dating back to 1978.
BIG WEST RANKS
After the opening month of the season, the Matadors continue to rank in the top-10 in the Big West in a pair of statistical categories. As a team, CSUN remains as high as fifth this week in team blocking at 2.19 per set. The Matadors rank seventh in opponent hitting percentage (.217). CSUN is also 10th in service aces (1.11 saps) and is 11th in hitting (.116), kills (10.03), assists (9.89) and digs (12.50). Individually, redshirt freshman Taylor Hunter and senior Makayla Bradford are the two Matador players to appear in the top-10. After moving up to fourth in blocking last week, Hunter is fifth this week averaging 1.12 blocks per set. Bradford moved into the top-10 in digs this week as the senior ranks 10th at 3.44 digs per set.
MATADOR QUICK SETS
With a team-high 124 digs this season, libero Makayla Bradford passed the 500 career digs plateau for her Matador career. The senior from Gardena now has 514 digs in her one-plus seasons at CSUN and has reached double figures in digs in seven of the Matadors' first 10 matches this season ... CSUN set a season match-high with 53 kills at Nevada on Saturday. The Matadors' previous high for team kills was 49 in a four-set loss to Boise State on Sept. 10. CSUN also hit a team-high .197 (53-25-142) against the Broncos which eclipsed its previous season-best of .167 against Sacramento State (Sept. 17) ... With seven aces this season, senior Lexi McLeod is inching closer to the CSUN rally scoring top-10 in career aces. McLeod, who had 23 aces as a freshman in 2018 and a team-high 27 aces as a sophomore in 2019, has 57 career aces heading into this week's matches.Â
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
After opening the home and conference season this week, the Matadors head back out on the road for conference matches at CSU Bakersfield (Oct. 1) and Cal Poly (Oct. 2).
#UniteTheValley
