California State University at Northridge
Life Pacific
CSUN Hosts Final Home Tri-Duals of 2022 on Friday and Saturday
3/31/2022 9:21:00 AM | Beach Volleyball
MATADORS THIS WEEK:
Friday, Apr. 1, 2022
CSUN Beach Volleyball Complex - Northridge, Calif.
Life Pacific vs. CSUN - 11:00 a.m.
Marymount California vs. CSUN - 3:00 p.m.
Saturday, Apr. 2, 2022
CSUN Beach Volleyball Complex - Northridge, Calif.
Life Pacific vs. CSUN - 11:00 a.m.
Saint Katherine vs. CSUN - 3:00 p.m.
In-game Twitter updates:Â @CSUNBeach
FORÂ STARTERS
The CSUN Beach Volleyball (11-13) concludes the 2022 home schedule this week as the Matadors host Life Pacific and Marymount California on Friday and Life Pacific and Saint Katherine on Saturday in their final home tri-duals of the season. Action on the sand gets underway at 11 a.m. both days and will feature three dual matches (11 a.m., 1 p.m.. 3 p.m.).
CSUN, 9-5 on its home sand this season, then caps the regular season with a tri-dual against Pepperdine and Saint Mary's in Malibu (Apr. 9) and a dual match at Long Beach State on Apr. 23. The 2022 Big West Championship gets underway Apr. 29 at the Swanson Beach Volleyball Complex in San Luis Obispo.Â
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
Life Pacific (2-14) has dropped three straight matches since posting its second win of the season on Mar. 22 over Marymount (4-1). The Warriors, in their first season beach volleyball, posted the program's inaugural victory on Mar. 11 when LPU also defeated Marymount, 4-1.
Series:Â Friday's tri-dual opener will be the first ever match between CSUN and Life Pacific.
Marymount California (0-15), which takes on Westcliff and Saint Katherine Thursday in Irvine, has yet to get into the win column this season. The Mariners dropped to 0-15 on the season after falling to Park University (5-0) and Benedictine (4-1) in Chandler, Ariz. on Mar. 25.
Series:Â Friday's match marks the third meeting all-time between CSUN and Marymount. The Matadors have yet to drop a set to the Mariners, winning 5-0 in Bakersfield and 5-0 in Northridge during the 2019 season.
Saint Katherine (9-9), which also plays two matches Thursday in Irvine (Marymount, Westcliff), has lost five straight since sweeping Marymount on Mar. 19. The Firebirds were 8-3 on the season after a win over Grossmont on Mar. 1 but are 1-6 over their last seven dual matches.Â
Series:Â Saturday's match is just the second meeting all-time between CSUN and Saint Katherine. The Matadors swept the first meeting between the two teams in Northridge in 2021.
SENIOR DAY
The CSUN Beach Volleyball program will honor its five seniors following Saturday's tri-dual. Darbi Honeycutt, Kailey Klein, Mikaela Maughan, Victoria Rogers and Seyvion Waggoner will be celebrated following their final home match for their contributions to the Matador beach program.
Klein, a Matador since 2019, comes into this week just two wins from tying Lauren McMurray for the program record for individual wins. With a 14-10 record this season, Klein owns a career record of 46-37 which trails only McMurray (48-36) in program history. Klein and McMurray played together in 2021, winning 12 times as CSUN's No. 4 pair. Honeycutt and Maughan, who each made their CSUN debut in 2019, also have more than etched their names in the CSUN history book as well. As a pair, they came into the 2022 season with the most pairs wins in program history (32) and have added four wins to that total this season. Maughan is currently tied for third with Aeryn Owens (2016-20) for individual wins with 42 while Honeycutt opens the week with 41 career wins which currently ranks fifth. Waggoner, also a Matador since 2019, has 27 wins in her CSUN career including a season-high 12 so far in 2022. Rogers, who transferred to CSUN from San Francisco prior to the 2021 season, has a team-leading 15 wins this season (12-6 with Klein, 3-3 with Abbey Sweeting) and currently has 24 wins at CSUN.
The group has been a major part of the growth of CSUN Beach Volleyball. Since the beginning of the 2019 season, the Matadors have 42 team wins, including a 16-12 record in 2019 which ranks second in program history.
MATADOR NOTES
After Klein and Rogers' team-high 12 wins as a pair, Lauren Eknoian and Emily Sparks are also closing in on double figures in wins with nine. The pair has a 7-10 record playing in the No. 1 pairs and is 2-3 playing at No. 2. Waggoner and True McCullough currently rank third on the team with seven wins, 4-3 in the No. 2 pairs, 1-0 at No. 3 and 2-4 at No. 4 ... With two wins (Sacramento State, CSU Bakersfield) at last weekend's Big West Challenge at Rosie's Gog Beach in Long Beach, the Matadors matched their second-best win total in four years of the tournament. CSUN finished 0-5 in San Luis Obispo in 2021, 3-3 in 2019 in Pismo Beach and 2-3 in 2018 in Folsom.Â
CSUN BEACH VOLLEYBALL HISTORY
The Matadors have an all-time record of 77-92 (.456) in their ninth season of beach volleyball, including a 49-28 (.636) 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
