Matadors Drop Big West Opener to UC Irvine in Four-Sets

NORTHRIDGE, Calif. – Lauryn Anderson and Nieko Thomas combined for 23 kills for CSUN but the visiting UC Irvine Anteaters came back to top the Matadors in four sets in the Big West opener for both teams Friday at The Matadome.

Set scores were 19-25, 25-20, 25-19, 28-26 as UC Irvine improves to 8-3 overall and 1-0 in the Big West. CSUN slips to 1-10 overall and 0-1 in conference play.

KEY STATISTICS
• Thomas, a freshman from West Hills, connected for a season-high 12 kills (.188) to go with a pair of digs and one block. Anderson had a solid night in the middle, putting down 11 kills with just two errors on 20 swings to hit .450. She also matched Taylor Orshoff for team-high honors with three blocks.
• Senior Nicole Nevarez added nine kills (.194) and 13 digs while Orshoff chipped in eight kills (.000) and three blocks.
• Setter Carisa Barron recorded a season-high 27 assists to go with two aces and seven digs while fellow setter Madison Klungel posted 16 assists, two kills and two digs. Senior libero Makayla Bradford led all players in the match with 16 digs to go along with three assists.
• Each team posted 53 kills but the Matadors committed six more hitting errors on nine more swings as UCI out-hit the Matadors .229 to .174. Each team also recorded 54 digs while the Anteaters had a slight edge in team blocking, 7.0 to 6.5.
• Marianna Bertolone led the Anteaters with a career-high 12 kills and 10 digs while Onye Ofoegbu also added 12 kills on .375 hitting.

COACH SUSIE TERRUSA SAID
"We came out and played a very good first set and I thought we battled in sets two, three and four but just came up short. We're a very young team but we have become more competitive as the season has progressed. We are getting the opportunities but just need to play more consistent to take advantage of them."

FIRST SET
The Matadors opened the match by hitting .270 in the first set while limiting the Anteaters to a -.029 clip. After an Anderson kill gave CSUN an early 7-6 lead, UCI took its first lead at 9-8 on a Kelly Negron ace. The Matadors answered with three straight to re-take the lead 11-9 following a Nevarez kill. The visitors came back behind a 6-2 run to take a 15-13 lead on an Ofoegbu kill. The teams then battled to a 17-17 tie, the 11th of the set, when the Matadors tallied four straight points, highlighted by back-to-back blocks to open up a 21-17 lead. Still leading by four at 23-19, CSUN used a Thomas kill and a UCI hitting error to close the set 25-19.

SECOND SET
After UCI opened an early 6-4 advantage, a Nevarez ace evened the score at 7-7. The lead would see-saw back-and-forth for much of the set before a Bertolone kill forged a 16-16 tie, the 12th of the set. Bertolone would answer with another kill, fueling a 6-0 UCI run which pushed the lead to 21-16. An ensuing Anteater service error trimmed the lead to four (21-17) but CSUN would get no closer in dropping the set 25-20.

THIRD SET
A Thomas kill on the opening point of the set gave CSUN one of only two leads it held in the frame. Anderson's kill made it 2-1 before UCI scored three straight to lead 4-2. The Anteaters opened up a three-point cushion at 10-7 following a Matador hitting error before extending the lead to as many as six (17-11) on an Ofoegbu put-away. Three consecutive CSUN hitting errors forced a Matador timeout at 19-11 before the Anteaters held off a late Matador run to take a 25-19 victory.

FOURTH SET
UCI jumped out to an early 5-2 lead before a Nevarez kill capped a 5-2 CSUN run to knot the score at 7-7. The visitors answered with a 3-0 run to lead 10-7 before the Matadors engineered a 6-3 run, capped by a Thomas kill, to even things at 13-13. But a Matador service error sent UCI on a decisive 6-1 run that opened up a 19-14 cushion. But a Nevarez kill fueled a late 6-1 CSUN run that narrowed the gap to 20-19. An Anderson-Orshoff block kept the Matadors within one at 21-20 before UCI took three of the next four points to set up match point at 24-21. Consecutive kills by Thomas saved a pair of set points before an Anteater hitting error pulled the Matadors even at 24-24. The teams would exchange points until UCI ended the match on a kill by Bertolone and a Matador hitting error, 28-26.

UP NEXT
The Matadors cap their two-match conference-opening homestand Saturday, hosting UC San Diego at 7 p.m.

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Team Stats

Nieko Thomas

Lauryn Anderson

Nicole Nevarez

Taylor Orshoff

Players Mentioned

Lauryn Anderson

Carisa Barron

Makayla Bradford

Madison Klungel

Nicole Nevarez

Taylor Orshoff

Nieko Thomas