California State University at Northridge
Sacramento State
Matadors Continue Tournament Play at Sacramento State Invitational
9/8/2021 10:53:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
CSUNÂ THIS WEEK - SACRAMENTO STATEÂ INVITATIONAL
MATCH #1 (SEASON MATCH #6)
CSUN Matadors (1-4) at Sacramento State Hornets (2-3)
Friday, Sept. 10, 2021Â - 12:00Â p.m. PDT
The Nest - Sacramento, Calif.
Live Stats // Watch
MATCH #2 (SEASON MATCH #7)
CSUN Matadors (1-4) vs. Boise State Broncos (5-1)
Friday, Sept. 10, 2021Â - 5:00 p.m. PDT
The Nest - Sacramento, Calif.
Live Stats
MATCH #3Â (SEASON MATCH #8)
CSUN Matadors (1-4) vs. Pacific Tigers (2-4)
Saturday, Sept. 11, 2021Â - 4:00 p.m. PDT
The Nest - Sacramento, Calif.
Live Stats
In-game Twitter updates:Â @CSUNWVB
FORÂ STARTERS
The CSUN Women's Volleyball team (1-4, 0-0 Big West) continues tournament play this week as the Matadors travel to the State Capitol for three matches at the Sacramento State Invitational. CSUN opens the tournament Friday against the host Hornets (2-3) at noon. The Matadors then meet Boise State Friday at 5 p.m., before concluding the tournament Saturday against Pacific at 11 a.m. After opening the season 1-2 at USC's Trojan Invitational (Aug. 27-28), CSUN fell to Fresno State (3-0) and Loyola Marymount (3-0) in Fresno 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 TOURNAMENT FIELD
Sacramento State (2-3) has dropped three straight since opening the season with consecutive wins. Last week, the Hornets dropped a road match at San Jose State (3-0) before falling at home to St. Mary's (3-2). Sophomore outside hitter Bridgette Smith leads Sac State, averaging 3.75 kills per set. As a team, the Hornets are hitting .152 through five matches.
Series:Â Friday's match is the 52nd meeting between the Matadors and Hornets with CSUN leading the all-time series 29-22. The Matadors took the last match-up between the two teams in five sets in Sacramento in 2018.
Boise State (5-1) defeated Southern Utah (3-1), UC Irvine (3-1) and George Mason (3-0) to claim the UCI/Adidas Invitational title last weekend in Irvine. Junior OH Lauren Ohlinger, who leads the Broncos averaging 4.48 kps, was named Mountain West Offensive Player of the Week after posting 38 kills and 11 aces over the three-match span.
Series:Â Friday's match is the seventh meeting between the Matadors and Broncos with CSUN holding a slight 4-2 edge in the series. Boise State won the last meeting in straight sets in Boise in 2018.
Pacific (2-4)Â won two of three matches at its own Pacific Community Classic last weekend. The Tigers swept both Tarleton State and UC San Diego before dropping a five-set decision to California. Sophomore OH Alexa Edwards, who had 21 kills against Cal, leads Pacific averaging 4.82 kills per set.
Series:Â Saturday's match is the 26th meeting all-time between the former Big West rivals. Pacific holds a 14-11 edge in the series which dates back to 1978. The Matadors swept the most recent meeting between the two teams in Stockton in 2012.
MACIAS MAKES HER MATADOR DEBUTÂ
After several CSUN players made their Matador debut at the Trojan Invitational two weeks ago, true freshman Abigail Macias made her collegiate debut in Fresno. Macias came off the bench against Fresno State and took her first collegiate swing while also recording one block assist against the Bulldogs. She then played a set against Loyola Marymount, taking a season-high seven swings in the CSUN loss.Â
BIG WEST RANKS
After two weeks of play, the Matadors rank in the top-10 in the Big West in several statistical categories. As a team, CSUN ranks as high as sixth in blocks (1.76) and is ninth in both service aces (1.06) opponent hitting percentage (.246). The Matadors also rank 11th this week in hitting (.074), kills (8.59), assists (7.78) and digs (11.06). Individually, redshirt freshman Taylor Hunter is the only Matador player to appear in the top-10. She currently ranks fifth in blocking averaging 1.13 blocks per set.
MATADOR QUICK SETS
With four 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 54 career aces heading into this week's matches. Sydney Gedryn currently ranks 10th in the Matadors' rally scoring era with 79 career aces. Freshman Madison Klungel has a team-leading five aces over her first five collegiate matches ... Sophomore Taylor Orshoff served her first career ace against Loyola Marymount on Saturday ... Junior Elizabeth Gannon also recorded her first dig at CSUN against LMU ... Libero Makayla Bradford has reached double figures in digs in three of the Matadors' first five matches. Bradford has CSUN's high digs total this season with 54 and also holds the single-match high with 21 against Campbell.
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 three matches in Sacramento this weekend, the Matadors will play wrap up the pre-Big West portion of the 2021 schedule with a pair of matches at the Nevada Invitational (Sept. 17-18). CSUN opens its final tournament by meeting Sacramento State for the second time this season, meeting Friday (Sept. 17) at 3 p.m. before CSUN concludes the weekend Saturday (Sept. 18) against host Nevada at 2 p.m. The Matadors kick off the 2021 conference season with a two-match homestand, Sept. 24-35 as CSUN hosts UC Irvine and UC San Diego in The Matadome at 7 p.m.
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