California State University at Northridge
CSU Bakersfield
CSUN Back on the Road at CSU Bakersfield, Cal Poly
9/30/2021 10:20:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
CSUNÂ THIS WEEK:
MATCH #13Â (BIG WEST #3)
CSUN Matadors (1-11, 0-2Â Big West) at CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners (8-2, 1-1 Big West)
Friday, Oct. 1, 2021 - 5:00 p.m. PDT
Icardo Center - Bakersfield, Calif.
ESPN+Â //Â Live Stats
MATCH #14Â (BIG WESTÂ #4)
CSUN Matadors (1-11, 0-2 Big West) at Cal Poly Mustangs (4-9, 2-0 Big West)
Saturday, Oct. 2, 2021Â - 2:00 p.m. PDT
Mott Athletics Center - San Luis Obispo, Calif.
Watch //Â Live Stats
In-game Twitter updates:Â @CSUNWVB
FORÂ STARTERS
After a brief two-match homestand, the CSUN Women's Volleyball team (1-11, 0-2 Big West) heads back on the road this week for conference matches at CSU Bakersfield (8-2, 1-1 Big West) and Cal Poly (4-9, 2-0 Big West). The Matadors take on the Roadrunners in the Icardo Center Friday at 5 p.m. before heading to Mott Athletics Center to meet the Mustangs Saturday at 2 p.m. CSUN, 1-9 in road matches this season, dropped both matches of its first homestand of the year, falling to UC Irvine (3-1) and UC San Diego (3-1) in The Matadome.
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
CSU Bakersfield (8-2, 1-1 Big West) split its conference-opening weekend, falling in four sets at Cal State Fullerton on Friday before knocking off Long Beach State in four at the Walter Pyramid on Saturday. The Roadrunners, playing their first home match in 690 days, have won five of their last seven heading into Friday's match with the Matadors. Junior OH Hayley McCluskey leads CSUB averaging 3.28 kills per set which ranks sixth in the Big West. The Runners rank fifth in the Big West, hitting .214 as a team.
Series: Friday's match is the 40th meeting all-time between CSUN and CSU Bakersfield with the Matadors holding a 31-8 lead in the series. The Matadors have won three straight in the series, including a 3-0 win in Fresno in 2019, the most recent match between the two teams.
Cal Poly (4-9, 2-0 Big West) picked up conference road wins at Long Beach State (3-0) and Cal State Fullerton (3-2) last week to snap a five-match losing streak. The Mustangs, 0-2 at home this season, host UC Santa Barbara on Friday before entertaining CSUN on Saturday. Senior OH Jamie Stivers leads the Mustangs in kills at 3.27 per set and is second in digs with 2.73 per set. Peyton Dueck, this week's Big West Defensive Player of the Week, leads Cal Poly in digs, averaging 4.40 per set.
Series: Saturday's match is the 65th meeting all-time between the Matadors and Mustangs with Cal Poly holding a 36-28 edge in the series. The Mustangs have won 10 straight over the Matadors which includes a pair of 3-0 wins in 2019.
SENIOR MILESTONES
Seniors Lexi McLeod and Nicole Nevarez have reached or are closing on significant career milestones as each plays her final season. With 15 digs in two matches last week, McLeod surpassed 600 digs in her Matador career. With 127 digs this season, the senior from Bakersfield now has 606 career digs (2.34 dps). With 58 career aces, McLeod is now within 21 aces from entering the Matadors' rally scoring era top-10. Sydney Gedryn currently ranks 10th with 79 career aces. McLeod also had 12 kills last week, boosting her career kills total to 410. Nevarez, who ranks second on the Matadors with 98 kills this season, is within 18 kills of 500 kills in her CSUN career. Additionally, Nevarez is just 17 digs away from 400 career digs and with eight blocks in her last three matches, she now has 105 career blocks.
BIG WEST RANKS
After the first five weeks of the season, the Matadors continue to rank in the top-10 in the Big West in four statistical categories. As a team, CSUN remains as high as fifth this week in team blocking at 2.13 per set. The Matadors are sixth this week in aces per set (1.16 saps) and are 10th in both opponent hitting percentage (.222) and digs per set (12.86 dps). The Matadors rank 11th this week in hitting (.132), kills per set (10.55) and assists per set (9.64). Individually, redshirt freshman Taylor Hunter and senior Makayla Bradford are the two Matador players to appear in the top-10. After ranking as high as fourth in blocking, Hunter is sixth this week averaging 1.08 blocks per set. Bradford remained in the top-10 in digs for the second straight week as the senior ranks ninth averaging 3.66 digs per set.
MATADOR QUICK SETS
Friday's loss to UC Irvine dropped CSUN to 24-12 (.667) all-time in conference season openers and 20-22 (.476) all-time in home openers dating back to 1978 ... CSUN set several single-match season-highs for a four-set match during the Big West opening weekend. The Matadors matched their season-high with 53 kills against UC Irvine which tied the total they had in their previous match against Nevada (Sept. 18). CSUN's hitting percentage of .218 against UC San Diego was the high for the Matadors this season, and the first time they have hit over .200 this season ... CSUN has now dropped six consecutive four-set decisions dating back to Sept. 10 against Boise State in Sacramento ... After finishing August with a 1-2 record, the Matadors finished the month of September 0-9 ... Redshirt freshman Taylor Hunter hit .444 with four kills on nine error-less swings against UC San Diego, her best hitting percentage effort since connecting at a .538 clip in the third match of the season at USC ... Fellow middle Lauryn Anderson is hitting .333 (21-5-48) over her last three matches, including two matches hitting over .400.
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 this week's conference road matches at CSU Bakersfield and Cal Poly, the Matadors return home for a pair of conference matches against Cal State Fullerton (Oct. 8) and Long Beach State (Oct. 9).
#UniteTheValley
