California State University at Northridge
Cal Poly
CSUN Hosts Cal Poly Before Traveling to UC Santa Barbara
10/18/2023 9:52:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
CSUNÂ THIS WEEK:
MATCH #20Â (BIG WEST #9)
Cal Poly Mustangs (11-9, 5-3 Big West) @ CSUN Matadors (4-15, 2-6Â Big West)
Thursday, Oct. 19, 2023Â - 6:00 p.m. PDT
Premier America Credit Union Arena - Northridge, Calif.
Live Stats // Watch
MATCH #21 (BIG WEST #10)
CSUN @ UC SANTA BARBARA
Saturday, Oct. 21, 2023Â - 7:00Â p.m. PDT
The Thunderdome - Santa Barbara, Calif.
Live Stats // Watch
In-game Twitter updates:Â @CSUNWVB
FORÂ STARTERS
After splitting a two-match road trip to Orange County last week, the CSUN women's volleyball team (4-15, 2-6 Big West) returns home to host Cal Poly on Thursday before traveling to Big West leading UC Santa Barbara on Saturday. The Matadors and Mustangs meet inside Premier America Credit Union Arena Thursday at 6 p.m. before the Matadors and Gauchos tangle Saturday evening at 7 p.m.
CSUN won its season-high second straight last Friday, sweeping Cal State Fullerton at Titan Gym. The Matadors then dropped a pair of deuce sets in a tight 3-0 loss at UC Irvine on Saturday.
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 Poly (11-9, 5-3 Big West) had its five-match win streak snapped with a road loss at UC Santa Barbara (3-0) last week before falling at home to Hawai'i (3-1). Lizzy Markovska and Tommi Stockham each reached double figures in kills in the loss to Hawai'i. Markovska had a team-high 15 kills while Stockham finished with 10 kills. Redshirt sophomore setter Emme Bullis recorded her second double-double of the season with 39 assists and 11 digs for the Mustangs.
Series: Thursday's match is the 69th meeting all-time between the Matadors and Mustangs with Cal Poly holding a 39-29 lead in the all-time series. The Matadors have won 16 of the 24 matches all-time against Cal Poly in Northridge. The Mustangs won both meetings last season, 3-1 in Northridge and 3-0 in San Luis Obispo.
UC Santa Barbara (18-2, 8-0 Big West), the only unbeaten team in Big West play this season, travels to Cal State Bakersfield on Thursday before hosting CSUN on Saturday. The Gauchos have won nine straight after sweeping Cal Poly before holding off Hawai'i in five sets last week. Tasia Farmer was named Big West Offensive Player of the Week after averaging 4.25 kills on .517 hitting in the two matches.
Series: Saturday's match is the 56th meeting all-time between CSUN and UC Santa Barbara with the Gauchos holding a 45-10 lead in the series. CSUN is 3-25 in 28 matches against the Gauchos in Santa Barbara.
FOUR MATADORS REMAIN IN THE BIG WEST RANKINGS
A quartet of CSUN players continue to rank in the top-20 in four Big West statistical categories this week. Libero Kelsey Knudsen and Paige Sentes are the highest ranked CSUN players, ranking fifth this week. Knudsen ranks fifth in digs at 3.93 per set while Sentes is fifth this week in aces per set at 0.37. Taylor Hunter ranks 10th in blocks at 1.00 per set and is also 13th in hitting at .263. Tatiana Turgeon moved into the rankings for the first time this week, ranking 17th in blocks at 0.74 per set. As a team, the Matadors rank as high as seventh in blocks per set (2.05) and are eighth in four other statistical categories.
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.
BARRON, HUNTER ON CSUN CAREER CHARTS
Juniors Carisa Barron and Taylor Hunter have also reached the top-10 in CSUN's Rally Scoring era in recent weeks. With 1,579 career assists, Barron has moved into seventh place, 142 assists behind Angela Hupp who is currently sixth with 1,718. Barron has now played in 314 career sets in her Matador career. Hunter has moved into the top 10 in all three blocking categories. She ranks 10th with 31 career solo blocks, 10th with 224 career block assists and 10th with 255 career total blocks. Hunter leads the Matadors this season with 13 solo blocks and 65 block assists. With a team-high 29 aces this season, Sentes is closing in on the season top-10. Nadine Nickel (2001, 2003) and Sam Orlandini currently share eighth-place on season aces list with 33. Sentes eight aces in CSUN's last four matches and has at least one aces in eight of the Matadors' 19 matches.
MATADOR QUICK SETS
Last Friday's 3-0 win at Cal State Fullerton was CSUN's first true road win of the season. The Matadors also defeated UTRGV in straight sets in a neutral site match in San Francisco on Sept. 15. The win marked CSUN's first conference road win since defeating UC Riverside in five sets last Nov. 17 ... Redshirt sophomore Nieko Thomas recorded her first kill in more than two years at UC Irvine on Saturday. Thomas, who has appeared in three matches (six sets) this season, had a career-high five blocks along with one kill against the Anteaters. Thomas' last kill came at Cal Poly on Oct. 2, 2021 during her freshman season ... Leah Miller hit a season-high .364 with 11 kills and three errors on 22 swings at Cal State Fullerton.
LOOKING AHEAD
After this weeks' home and road schedule, CSUN opens the second half of the Big West season next week, hosting Cal State Bakersfield (Oct. 26) and Hawai'i (Oct. 27). The Matadors will then head out on a four-match road trip from Nov. 3-11 (LBSU, UCSD, UCD, UCR) before returning home to close the regular season with home matches against UC Irvine and Cal State Fullerton (Nov. 17-18).
#GoMatadors
