California State University at Northridge
Cal State Fullerton
Matadors Look For Road Wins at Cal State Fullerton, Long Beach State
10/6/2022 9:32:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
CSUNÂ THIS WEEK:
MATCH #17Â (BIG WEST MATCH #5)
CSUN Matadors (6-10, 1-3) @ Cal State Fullerton (8-4, 2-2)
Friday, Oct. 7, 2022Â - 7:00 p.m. PDT
Titan Gym - Fullerton, Calif.
Live Stats // ESPN+
MATCH #18Â (BIG WEST MATCH #6)
CSUN Matadors (6-10, 1-3) @ Long Beach State (6-6, 1-3)
Saturday, Oct. 8, 2022Â - 7:00Â p.m. PDT
Walter Pyramid - Long Beach, Calif.
Live Stats // ESPN+
In-game Twitter updates:Â @CSUNWVB
FORÂ STARTERS
After splitting its first homestand of the 2022 season, the CSUN women's volleyball team (6-10, 1-3 Big West) opens up a two-match road trip at Cal State Fullerton (8-4, 2-2) Friday at 7 p.m. The Matadors also travel to Long Beach State (6-6, 1-3) on Saturday at 7 p.m.
CSUN picked up its first conference win when the Matadors swept CSU Bakersfield, 3-0 in their home opener last Friday. CSUN then pushed Cal Poly to four sets the next night before dropping a 17-25, 25-23, 25-18, 25-12 decision at Premier America Credit Union Arena in Northridge.
FOLLOW YOUR MATADORS
Follow CSUN Matador women's volleyball online at the official home of CSUN athletics, www.GoMatadors.com. All home matches will be streamed live on ESPN+ (Darren Preston PBP) and feature live stats at GoMatadors.com.
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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. 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 OPPOSITION
Cal State Fullerton (8-4, 2-2 Big West) has dropped two of its last three following a season-long, seven-match win streak. The Titans fell in straight sets to Hawaii at home last Friday. Fullerton has conference wins over CSU Bakersfield (3-0) and Long Beach State (3-1).
Series: Friday's match is the 54th meeting all-time between CSUN and Cal State Fullerton with the Matadors holding a commanding 40-13 lead in the series. The Titans claimed both meetings last season which snapped a streak of 18 straight Matador wins dating to 2011. CSUN is 17-9 all-time in 26 matches at Titan Gym.
Long Beach State (6-6, 1-3 Big West) is 2-5 over its last seven matches dating back to a 3-0 loss to No. 2 Nebraska on Sept. 10. The Beach opened conference play with a 3-1 loss at Cal Poly before sweeping CSU Bakersfield. Long Beach then dropped a four-set decision at Cal State Fullerton before falling to Hawai'i (3-1) its home opener last weekend.
Series: Saturday's match is the 48th meeting all-time between CSUN and Long Beach State with the Mustangs leading the series, 35-12. The Beach won both matches last season in four sets, the sixth and seventh straight Long Beach State wins in the series.Â
NEVAREZ ON THE CSUN CAREER CHARTS
Nicole Nevarez, in her fourth season at CSUN, is closing in on several career milestones in 2022. With a team-high 180 kills this season, Nevarez is now 59 kills away from becoming the 14th player in program history to reach 1,000 career kills. She heads into the week having appeared in 100 matches and 373 career sets while posting 941 career kills on 2,822 career attempts to go with 697 career digs, 170 career blocks and 66 career aces. She has moved into the CSUN Rally Scoring era top-10 in a pair of categories, currently ranking eighth in kills and seventh in attacks. Her best season offensively was in 2019 when she connected for 285 kills while she set a season-high for digs with 245 in 2021. This season, Nevarez is hitting a season-high .228 on a team-high 508 swings.
CSUN FOURTH IN BIG WEST IN ACES & DIGSÂ
The Matadors moved up to fourth this week in a pair of Big West team statistical categories. With 15 aces in two matches last week, CSUN now has 81 aces on the season which averages out to 1.35 per set, fourth-best in the conference. Only UC Davis (88) and UC Riverside (84) have more aces as a team with the Highlanders leading the Big West averaging 1.71 per game. The Matadors also continue to rank among the top-five in team digs with 882 this season. CSUN is averaging 14.70 digs per set heading into this week's matches, trailing only Cal State Fullerton (15.53), UC Irvine (15.49) and UC Riverside (15.35). The Matadors' total of 882 digs ranks second only to UC San Diego's 1,007.
MATADOR QUICK SETS
Emily Sparks picked up her fourth double-double of the season with 16 assists and 11 digs against Cal Poly on Saturday. Sparks, who has double-doubles in two of CSUN's last three matches, now leads the team with four. Carisa Barron and Nicole Nevarez are close behind with three apiece ... Breanna Mitchell continues to be the highest ranked CSUN player in the Big West individual stats as she ranks second in digs after leading the conference last week. Mitchell checks in at 4.53 digs per set this week which trails only Campbell Jensen of UC Irvine who is averaging 4.88 digs per set this week. Lauryn Anderson also remains in the top-five in hitting percentage this week at .353, behind Amber Igiede of Hawai'i (.418) and Onye Ofoegbu of UC Irvine (.412). Anderson is now hitting .353 on the season but is six points higher at .359 in four Big West matches.
CSUN IMPROVES TO 25-12 IN CONFERENCE HOME OPENERS
With Friday's 3-0 sweep over CSU Bakersfield in their 2022 home and conference home opener, CSUN improved to 25-12 (.676) in 37 previous conference home openers from 1976-89 and 1996-2022. The Matadors competed as an NCAA Div. I Independent from 1990-95, including the 1993 season which was John Price's first stint as the head coach of the CSUN women's program. The Matadors are now 21-22 (.488) all-time in 43 home openers all-time dating back to 1976.
PRICE NAMED CSUN'SÂ DIRECTOR OF WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
John Price was named Director of Women's Volleyball at CSUN in June of 2022. He will oversee both the indoor and beach volleyball programs. Price returned to the CSUN indoor program in 2021 where he served as an assistant on interim head coach Susie Terrusa's staff. Price previously as an assistant coach on Jeff Stork's women's volleyball coaching staff from 2012-2015. He also served one season as the head coach of the CSUN women's volleyball team in 1993, compiling a record of 12-17 as an NCAA Independent.
Price's CSUN resume also includes 12 seasons as the head coach of the nationally-ranked Matador men's volleyball team (1986-1997) where he amassed an overall record of 194-158 (.551) leading CSUN to a 23-10 record and a berth in the 1993 NCAA Championship match where the Matadors fell to UCLA. Price then moved on to CSU Bakersfield women's volleyball and remains the winningest coach in program history. He posted a career record of 232-169 (.579) over 14 seasons, leading the Roadrunners to a 28-4 overall record in his first season. Price was also at the helm of the CSUB program when the school made the transition from NCAA Division II to Division I status. Price's 2008 squad was the first Roadrunner team in any sport to post a winning record (18-15) in the school's Division I era.
LOOKING AHEAD
After this week's road matches at Cal State Fullerton and Long Beach State, the Matadors return to Premier America Credit Union Arena to open up a season-long three-match homestand against UC Davis on Oct. 14. CSUN will also host UC Riverside (Oct. 15) and UC Santa Barbara (Oct. 18) before heading to Hawai'i for a single match on Oct. 21.
#UniteTheValley
