California State University at Northridge
Westcliff University
Matadors Open Eight-Match Week Tuesday vs. Westcliff
3/14/2022 9:07:00 AM | Beach Volleyball
MATADORS THIS WEEK (All matches at the CSUN Beach Volleyball Complex)
Tuesday, Mar. 15, 2022
Westcliff vs. CSUN - 11:00 a.m.
Westcliff vs. CSUN - 1:00 p.m.
Thursday, Mar. 17, 2022
Nebraska vs. CSUN - 11:00 a.m.
Concordia-Irvine vs. CSUN - 3:00 p.m.
Friday, Mar. 18, 2022
Nebraska vs. CSUN - 11:00 a.m.
The Master's University vs. CSUN - 3:00 p.m.
Saturday, Mar. 19, 2022
Boise State vs. CSUN - 11:00 a.m.
Cal State LA vs. CSUN - 3:00 p.m.
In-game Twitter updates:Â @CSUNBeach
FORÂ STARTERS
CSUN Beach Volleyball (4-4) opens an incredibly busy week Tuesday as the Matadors host Westcliff for a pair of matches beginning at 11 a.m. Tuesday's matches against Westcliff mark the first of eight matches CSUN will play over five days. The Matadors will host Nebraska and Concordia-Irvine on Thursday, Nebraska and The Master's University on Friday before completing the stretch Saturday against Boise State and Cal State LA.
The Matadors, 4-0 on their home sand this season, defeated Vanguard (3-2) and Cal State LA (4-1) last Saturday, the first two of 12 straight dual home matches running through Mar. 23. Spectators are welcome to attend CSUN Beach Volleyball matches in 2022 but must adhere to the CSUN spectator policy.
FOLLOW YOUR MATADORS ONLINE
Follow CSUN Matadors beach volleyball on-line at the official home of CSUN athletics, www.GoMatadors.com. For road matches, related links to the match, including for any live stats, audio and video, will be posted before the match on the beach volleyball schedule page of GoMatadors.com.Â
Fans are also encouraged to check the CSUN Athletics Department's official Twitter feed (@GoMatadors) and the beach volleyball-specific feed (@CSUNBeach) for news and notes throughout the week as well as updates of matches in progress.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
Westcliff (4-0) is off to a 4-0 start with a pair of 5-0 victories over San Diego Christian along with dual wins over Park-Gilbert (5-0) and Benedictine-Mesa (5-0).Â
Series:Â Tuesday's pair of matches will be just the second and third meetings all-time between the Matadors and the Warriors. The two teams last met in 2019 in Northridge with CSUN winning 4-1.
Nebraska (5-9) fell to UC Davis (3-2) in its final match of the Queen's Cup at Queen's Beach in Honolulu, Hawaii last weekend. The Huskers dropped all five matches in Hawai'i, three coming to ranked teams, as they slipped to 5-9 on the season.
Series:Â This week's matches between CSUN and Nebraska on Thursday and Friday will be just the second and third matches all-time in the series. The Huskers defeated the Matadors 4-1 in the one previous meeting in 2015 in Tucson, Ariz.
Concordia-Irvine (10-2) opened the season 8-1 before splitting a pair of dual matches at CSU Bakersfield last Saturday. The Eagles swept The Master's (5-0 before falling the host Roadrunners (3-2). Concordia's only other loss this season came to No. 14 Pepperdine (4-1) on Mar. 5 in Irvine.
Series:Â Thursday's match is the 10th meeting all-time between CSUN and Concordia with the Matadors leading 7-2 in the series. The teams met twice last season with the Eagles winning 3-2 on Mar. 12 before CSUN taking a 3-2 win on Apr. 3. The Matadors are 6-1 all-time against Concordia in Northridge.
The Master's University (10-6) fell to CSU Bakersfield (5-0) and Concordia-Irvine (5-0) last weekend in Bakersfield to drop to 10-6 on the season. Since dropping a 5-0 decision at CSUN on Feb. 26, the Mustangs had won five of six before dropping a pair in Bakersfield.
Series: CSUN and The Master's will meet for the second time this season and fifth time overall on Friday. The Matadors, unbeaten in four previous meetings, claimed a 5-0 win in 2020, a pair of 4-1 wins in 2021 and another 5-0 decision earlier this season.
Boise State (7-6)Â defeated Bushnell (5-0) and Oregon (4-1) last Saturday to finish the Northwest Invitational with a perfect 4-0 record. The Broncos, who have yet to play a home match in 2022, opened the season with nine dual matches in Arizona before finishing 4-0 in Salem, Ore. last weekend.
Series:Â Saturday's match is the third meeting all-time between the Matadors and Broncos. The teams split the first two matches in the series with CSUN winning 3-2 in Tucson, Ariz. and Boise State taking a 5-0 decision in Northridge last season.
Cal State LA (2-4)Â split its first four dual matches on the season before falling by 4-1 scores to both Vanguard and the Matadors last Saturday in Northridge. The Golden Eagles opened the season with wins over Marymount (5-0) and Hope International (3-2) before dropping four straight.
Series: Saturday's match is the second this season and eighth all-time between CSUN and Cal State LA. The Matadors are 7-0 all-time against the Golden Eagles with CSUN winning 5-0 in 2017 and 2020 and twice in 2018. The Matadors took a pair of 4-1 decisions in 2019 and also won by the count of 4-1 last weekend.
MATADOR NOTES
After some reshuffling within the pairs last weekend, three duos emerged undefeated following a pair of Saturday duals. Seyvion Waggoner and Mikaela Maughan went 2-0 in the No. 2 pairs, Kailey Klein and Victoria Rogers went 2-0 at the No. 4 spot and Abbey Sweeting and Jadin Williams went 2-0 at No. 5 ... A trio of players (Rogers, Sweeting and Waggoner) now lead the team with five wins this season ... Rogers won three times with Sweeting in six earlier duals while Waggoner went 3-3 to open the season playing with True McCullough ... Klein and McCullough now have four wins this season ... Layla Cederlind and Madison Klungel joined the beach team from the indoor team last week and made their debut in the exhibition match against Vanguard ... All four CSUN team losses this season have come against teams ranked in the AVCA Top-20 poll. The Matadors fell to No. 4 Loyola Marymount and No. 11 California in the season opening tri-dual before falling twice at No. 20 CSU Bakersfield last Friday.
SCHEDULE UPDATES
Interim head coach John Price has announced that the Matadors have also added a pair of dual matches against Colorado Mesa on Wednesday, Mar. 23 also at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.
CSUN BEACH VOLLEYBALL HISTORY
The Matadors have an all-time record of 70-83 (.458) in their ninth season of beach volleyball, including a 44-23 (.657) record on their home sand. After setting a program record for most wins in one season with 17 in 2018, the Matadors came within one victory of equaling the mark with a 16-12 record in 2019.
The Matadors have steadily improved since the induction of the sport in 2014. Playing 10 matches, all on the road in its inaugural season, CSUN finished 1-9 in 2014. The Matadors picked up their first-ever beach volleyball win on Mar. 27, 2014 when CSUN defeated Oregon (3-2) at USC's Merle Norman Stadium.
The Matadors then debuted their on-campus facility in 2015, playing 11 matches overall and four matches at home. CSUN's first-ever home match was Mar. 5, 2015 against No. 7 UCLA. CSUN won at home for the first time on Mar. 9 of the 2015 season when the Matadors defeated TCU, 4-1. CSUN ultimately upped its season win total to three culminating with a 3-8 overall season record to close the 2015 season.
The 2016 season saw the Matadors finish 8-14 before falling to Cal Poly in the third round of the Big West Tournament. CSUN then posted an overall record of 6-12 in 2017 before winning a program-record with 17 times in 2018. After posting 16 wins in 2019, the 2020 season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic with the Matadors off to a 4-1 start. CSUN won 11 times in 2021, finishing with an overall record of 11-15.
BIG WEST BEACH VOLLEYBALL
2022 marks CSUN's seventh season as a member of the Big West Conference in beach volleyball. The Matadors are 5-10 all-time in the Big West Tournament which was not held in 2020 due to COVID-19.
The Matadors were the No. 4 seed in the seven-team field at the 2019 Big West Tournament at Zuma Beach in Malibu. CSUN finished 2-2 in the championship tournament, their best showing since also finishing 2-2 in the inaugural conference tournament in 2016.Â
After winning two of three matches on the opening day, CSUN came up empty against No. 3 seed Long Beach State on Saturday and was the fourth squad eliminated from the tournament. Cal Poly, the No. 2 seed, went undefeated in four tournament matches to capture its first conference championship along with the Big West's automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament. Hawai'i, the top seed coming in, finished second.
At the 2018 championship in Hawai'i, the Matadors were seeded fourth in the six-team field in but were upset by fifth-seeded CSU Bakersfield in the opening round (3-2). CSUN then fell to No. 2 seed Cal Poly in an elimination match (5-0). The Matadors were also seeded fourth at the 2017 Big West Tournament held at Pismo Beach, but fell to Sacramento State (3-2) and Cal Poly (5-0) in their two tournament matches. In 2016, CSUN was the third seed in the inaugural conference tournament before finishing 2-2 including a close 3-2 loss to Cal Poly in a third-round elimination match at Huntington Beach.
Last season in the tournament held at Rosie's Dog Beach in Long Beach, the Matadors were swept (5-0) by Hawai'i before sweeping Sacramento State (5-0). CSUN was then knocked off by CSU Bakersfield (3-2) in an elimination match.
#UniteTheValley
