Matadors Sweep Texas A&M-Commerce For First Win

Saturday, August 27

USAFA, Colo.

4:00 pm

California State University at Northridge

1-2,0-0Big West

Texas A&M - Commerce

0-3,0-0Southland

Tex. A&M-Commerce

CSUN

Photo by: Steve Fitzgerald

Matadors Sweep Texas A&M-Commerce For First Win

8/27/2022 6:05:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

USAF, Colo. – Behind impressive performances from Lauryn Anderson and Breanna Mitchell, the CSUN women's volleyball team picked up its first win of the season by sweeping Texas A&M-Commerce Saturday in the Matadors' final match of the Amy Svoboda Memorial Classic at Cadet East Gym.

CSUN (1-2) wound up playing two matches in a five-hour span after going five sets with Air Force in its first match on Saturday. The Matadors hit .209 as a team against TAMUC while limiting the Lions to an .045 hitting clip in the 25-19, 26-24, 25-19 win.

KEY STATISTICS
• Anderson followed up her career-high 18-kill performance against Air Force earlier in the day with a match-high 12 kills against the Lions. Anderson hit .429 on 21 attacks in the win over TAMUC to finish an impressive day that saw the junior middle hit .469 with 28 kills and five errors on 49 swings. She also led the Matadors with four blocks in the win.
• Senior Nicole Nevarez added nine kills (.179), eight digs and two aces while Taylor Orshoff chipped in eight kills on .250 hitting.
• Libero Breanna Mitchell, who was named to the All-Tournament Team, wrapped up an impressive first weekend with a match-high 16 digs giving her double figures in digs in all three matches in Colorado.
• Setters Carisa Barron and Emily Sparks combined for 31 assists and 10 digs with Barron adding four kills and Sparks contributing two aces.
• The Matadors had a sizable edge in kills (42-29) and also had an edge in digs (50-43). The Lions out-blocked CSUN 10-9 while each team served five aces.
• Celeste Vela had eight kills (.333) and 10 digs to lead the Lions.

COACH JOHN PRICE SAID
"Having to play a five-set match in the morning, eat quickly and play another match right after is a tough situation. I thought the team handled it very well and it was great to see us play as well as we did in a tough situation. Lauryn (Anderson) had a terrific day today, she was great in both matches. She's worked really hard and it's good to see her enjoy a good amount of success on the court."

FIRST SET
After the Lions scored the first point of the match, the Matadors rolled off eight straight points to force an early TAMUC timeout. Trailing 9-3, the Lions answered with a 5-0 run to cut the CSUN lead to 9-8. The Matadors countered with a 7-2 run, capped by an Orshoff kill and a Lion hitting error to open up a 16-10 cushion. But TAMUC would again cut into the deficit, this time pulling within 18-16 following a CSUN hitting error. The Matadors would use a 3-0 run, capped by a Nevarez ace, to regain a five-point lead (21-16) and then pull away for the 25-19 margin.

SECOND SET
The second set proved to be the tightest of the match as the Lions held a pair of three-point leads early before Abigail Macias put down an overpass giving the Matadors their first lead at 8-7. CSUN could not gain much separation until kills by Anderson, Nevarez and Hunter opened up an 18-15 lead. A late 5-0 run by the Matadors, capped by a Barron kill, looked to put CSUN comfortably in front 23-16. But the Lions rallied out of a timeout, using an 8-1 run to tie the score at 24-24 before an Orshoff kill and a Mitchell ace sent the Matadors to the 26-24 win.

THIRD SET
TAMUC's Essence Allen put away a kill on the opening point of the final set before successive kills from Anderson, Nevarez and Hunter put the Matadors in front to stay. A Lion hitting error opened up a 9-3 CSUN lead and the Matadors would eventually lead by as many as nine at 16-7. The CSUN lead would not dip below six points the remainder of the set as Anderson put down her 12th kill on match point to seal the 25-19 win.

UP NEXT
The Matadors will compete in its second tournament of the season next weekend as CSUN travels to the Pacific Northwest to take on Nevada, Idaho State and Gonzaga as part of the Gonzaga Invitational in Spokane, Wash.

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