California State University at Northridge
Cal State Fullerton
CSUN Heads to Orange County for a Pair of Matches This Week
10/12/2023 1:48:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
CSUNÂ THIS WEEK:
MATCH #18Â (BIG WEST #7)
CSUN Matadors (3-14, 1-5Â Big West) @ Cal State Fullerton Titans (1-14, 0-6 Big West)
Friday, Oct. 13, 2023Â - 6:00 p.m. PDT
Titan Gym - Fullerton, Calif.
Live Stats // Watch
MATCH #19Â (BIG WEST #8)
CSUN @ UC IRVINE
Saturday, Oct. 14, 2023Â - 4:00Â p.m. PDT
Bren Evnts Center - Irvine, Calif.
Live Stats // Watch
In-game Twitter updates:Â @CSUNWVB
FORÂ STARTERS
After capping a four-match homestand with a thrilling five-set win over Long Beach State last Saturday, the CSUN women's volleyball team (3-14, 1-5 Big West) heads back on the road this week. The Matadors travel to Orange County for a Friday match at Cal State Fullerton (6 p.m.) before finishing up the week at UC Irvine Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m.
CSUN's 3-2 victory over Long Beach State not only gave the Matadors their first Big West win of the season but also snapped a seven-match skid in the process.Â
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+ with Darren Preston handling the play-by-play and CSUN men's volleyball assistant coach Ryan Mason providing commentary for select matches. All matches will also feature live stats at 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 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 (1-14, 0-6 Big West) has dropped eight straight since defeating American in five sets on Sept. 8. The Titans were swept in Hawaii last Friday night to remain winless in Big West play. Laura Williams paced Fullerton with seven kills an three digs at Hawai'i. For the season, Ameena Campbell leads the Titans averaging 3.13 kills per set which ranks eighth in the Big West this week.
Series: Friday's match is the 56th meeting all-time between the Matadors and Titans with CSUN holding a 41-14 lead in the all-time series. The Matadors are 17-10 all-time against the Titans in Fullerton. The two teams split the regular season series last year with the Titans winning in five sets at home and the Matadors winning in straight sets in Northridge.
UC Irvine (4-13, 2-4 Big West), which hosts Cal State Bakersfield on Friday, returns home this week after 19 days and four matches away. The Anteaters are coming off a 3-0 victory at Cal State Fullerton and a 3-0 loss at Hawaii last week. Against the Titans, UCI hit a season-high .344 (45-12-96) and held a 7-4 block advantage. The Anteaters are fourth in the Big West in kills (12.46), assists (11.54) and digs (14.71).
Series: Saturday's match is the 64th meeting all-time between CSUN and UC Irvine with the Anteaters holding a slim 33-30 edge in the series. CSUN is 12-19 in 31 matches against UCI in Irvine. The Anteaters won both meetings in 2022 and have won four straight in the series.
SENTES NAMED BIG WEST FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK
CSUN freshman Paige Sentes picked up the Matadors' first Big West volleyball weekly award of the 2023 season after being named Freshman of the Week by the conference on Monday (Oct. 9). Sentes helped the women's volleyball team to a split in two matches at home last week. In the Matadors' 3-2 win over Long Beach State on Saturday, Sentes had three aces, four assists and seven digs. She added eight digs, three aces and a pair of assists Friday against UC San Diego. For the week, Sentes had 15 digs, six aces and six assists. She leads CSUN with 25 aces this season while ranking second to Kelsey Knudsen with 150 digs.
FOUR MATADORS REMAIN IN THE BIG WEST RANKINGS
A quartet of CSUN players rank in the top-20 in four Big West statistical categories this week. Graduate Kelsey Knudsen is the highest ranked CSUN player, ranking fifth in digs at 4.03 per set. With six aces last week, Sentes has moved up to sixth averaging 0.35 aces per set. Redshirt junior Taylor Hunter ranks ninth in both hitting percentage (.281) and blocks (1.03 per set). Iye Okolo slipped from 16th to 18th this week in blocks at 0.74 per set. As a team, the Matadors rank as high as sixth in blocks per set (2.00) and are eighth in hitting percentage (.180), opponent hitting percentage (.226) and aces per set (1.38).
CSUN BREAKS INTO THE BIG WEST WIN COLUMN
Saturday's 3-2 win over Long Beach State was the Matadors' inaugural conference win of the season and first victory since sweeping UTRGV in the final non-conference weekend. The win was also significant for the Matadors who picked up their first win of the season when being out-killed (58-42), out-hit (.252-.159) and out-blocked (14-9). More importantly, the win snapped an unlikely streak of eight consecutive five-set losses for the Matadors this season while also snapping a nine-match losing streak to Long Beach.
ORSHOFF CONTINUES PURSUIT OF 1,000 CAREER KILLS
Hampered by injuries the last few weeks, Taylor Orshoff will look to continue her pursuit of 1,000 career kills this week. Orshoff, who opened the season with 786 career kills, has added 91 kills to her CSUN total this season and now needs 123 kills to become the 15th player in program history to reach 1,000 career kills.
After putting down 170 kills as a freshman in 2019, Orshoff had a team-high 314 kills in 2021 before posting 302 kills last season. Orshoff also posted a career first in the opening weekend this season, recording the first two double-doubles of her career. She had identical 13 kill-11 dig performances against both San Jose State and California Baptist (Aug 25-26) which surpassed her previous career-high in digs which was eight against UC San Diego in 2021. Orshoff has now reached double figures in kills five times this season and 41 times in her CSUN career.Â
MATADOR QUICK SETS
Redshirt freshman Tatiana Turgeon picked up her first collegiate ace in the win over Long Beach State ... Sophomore setter Kaia Kanan had the first two-ace match of her career, along with 13 assists and three digs against the Beach ... Freshman Madison DiGiorgio made her collegiate debut off the bench in the Long Beach State match.
LOOKING AHEAD
After a pair of road matches this week, CSUN returns home to host Cal Poly on Oct. 19. The Matadors will then finish the week with a road match at Big West leaders UC Santa Barbara on Oct. 21.
#GoMatadors
