California State University at Northridge
UC Irvine
Matadors Take on UC Irvine & UC San Diego to Open Big West Season
9/22/2022 12:22:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
CSUNÂ THIS WEEK:
MATCH #13Â (BIG WEST MATCH #1)
CSUN Matadors (5-7, 0-0) @ UC Irvine Anteaters (7-3, 0-0)
Friday, Sept. 23, 2022Â - 7:00 p.m. PDT
Bren Events Center - Irvine, Calif.
Live Stats // ESPN+
MATCH #14Â (BIG WEST MATCH #2)
CSUN Matadors (5-7, 0-0) at UC San Diego Tritons (7-5, 0-0)
Saturday, Sept. 24, 2022Â - 7:00Â p.m. PDT
Liontree Arena - La Jolla, Calif.
Live Stats // ESPN+
In-game Twitter updates:Â @CSUNWVB
FORÂ STARTERS
After winning four of its last six matches to conclude the non-conference schedule, the CSUN women's volleyball team (5-7, 0-0 Big West) opens up the 2022 Big West schedule this week with trips to UC Irvine (7-3, 0-0) and UC San Diego (7-5, 0-0). The Matadors travel to UCI's Bren Center Friday at 7 p.m. before continuing down the coast to La Jolla to meet the Tritons at Liontree Arena Saturday at 7 p.m.
CSUN concluded the non-conference season last weekend, winning two of three matches at Arizona's Wildcat Classic in Tucson. The Matadors topped both UTEP and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in five sets before falling to the host Wildcats in four sets.
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.
Â
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 TOURNAMENT FIELD
UC Irvine (7-3) opens Big West play hosting the Matadors on Friday and UC Santa Barbara on Saturday. The Anteaters, 5-0 at home this season, had their seven-match winning streak snapped in a 3-2 loss to California Baptist last Saturday in Phoenix, Ariz. UCI ranks second nationally in kills (14.76 per set) and is third in assists (13.58) while junior Onye Ofoegbu is No. 3 in the country in hitting percentage (.466).
Series: Friday's match is the 62nd meeting all-time between CSUN and UC Irvine with the Anteaters holding a slim 31-30 edge in the series. The Matadors are 12-18 all-time in Irvine. UC Irvine won both meetings in 2021, 3-1 in Northridge and 3-2 in Irvine.
UC San Diego (7-5) hosts UC Santa Barbara Friday before the Matadors on Saturday to open the conference season. The Tritons wrapped up the non-conference season at Denver's Thin Air Challenge last weekend with wins over San Francisco (3-2) and Air Force (3-1) before falling to the host Pioneers (3-0). Ava McInnes and Zaria Henderson both finished with 11 kills against Denver.
Series: Friday's match is the 13th meeting all-time between CSUN and UC San Diego with the Matadors holding a 10-2 lead. The Tritons claimed their first two wins in the series last season, winning 3-1 in Northridge and 3-1 in La Jolla.
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 136 kills this season, Nevarez is now 103 kills away from becoming the 14th player in program history to reach 1,000 career kills. She heads into the week having appeared in 359 career sets while posting 897 career kills on 2,691 career attempts to go with 655 career digs, 158 career blocks and 63 career aces. 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 .220 on a team-high 377 swings.
BARRON, MITCHELL NAMED BIG WEST PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Following two wins in three matches at Arizona's Wildcat Classic last weekend, CSUN claimed three of the four Big West weekly awards as Breanna Mitchell was named both Defensive Player and Freshman of the Week while sophomore Carisa Barron earned Setter of the Week accolades. The awards are the first for a Matador player since Morgan Salone and Makayla Bradford were named Big West Defensive Players of the Week during the 2019 season.
In three matches, Mitchell collected at least 20 digs in all three matches. She came within one dig of her season-high with 27 digs in the Matadors' 3-2 win over UTEP to open the tournament. She then added 23 digs, three assists and two aces in CSUN's five-set win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi before finishing the weekend with 20 digs and one ace against host Arizona. For the week, Mitchell averaged 5.00 digs per set with 70 digs over CSUN's 14 sets.
Barron, a sophomore from Bakersfield, was named Big West Setter of the Week after leading the Matadors to a 2-1 weekend in Tucson. Barron posted a double-double with 23 assists and 17 digs to go with nine kills and one block against UTEP on Friday before notching a rare triple-double in the win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. In CSUN's first triple-double of the season, Barron had 27 assists along with career-highs of 18 digs and 10 kills to reach the milestone performance.
MATADOR QUICK SETS
Barron's triple-double was the first by a CSUN player since Angela Hupp had 27 assists-14 digs-10 kills at UC Irvine on Nov. 2, 2006. Hupp finished the 2006 season with five triple-doubles that season ... Magdalena Juric also had a solid weekend in Arizona, raising her season hitting percentage from .122 to .218. Juric put down a season-high 11 kills in CSUN's win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi while hitting .435 on a season-high 23 swings. She also hit .318 with seven kills on 22 errorless attacks along with a team-high seven blocks in the Matadors' 3-2 win over UTEP ... CSUN is now 3-0 this season when leading its opponent in blocks.
CSUN IN CONFERENCE OPENERS
CSUN brings an impressive record of 24-12 (.667) in 36 previous conference season openers into Friday's Big West opener at UC Irvine. Since joining the Big West in 2001, the Matadors are 11-9 (.550) and won six straight conference openers from 2013-2019 ... CSUN has opened the conference season on the road four straight years before hosting UC Irvine last season. The Matadors also opened the 2018 campaign at home, posting a straight-set win over Cal State Fullerton.
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 opening the Big West season with road matches at UC Irvine and UC San Diego this weekend, the Matadors will get the home season underway on Friday, Sept. 30, hosting CSU Bakersfield in the 2022 home opener at 5 p.m.
#UniteTheValley
