California State University at Northridge
UC San Diego
CSUN Wraps Up Homestand vs. Long Beach State, UC San Diego
10/5/2023 10:36:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
CSUNÂ THIS WEEK:
MATCH #16Â (BIG WEST #5)
UC San Diego (8-8, 0-4Â Big West) @Â CSUN Matadors (2-13, 0-4Â Big West)
Friday, Oct. 6, 2023Â - 6:00 p.m. PDT
Premier America Credit Union Arena - Northridge, Calif.
Live Stats // Watch
MATCH #17Â (BIG WEST #6)
Long Beach State @Â CSUN
Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023Â - 4:00Â p.m. PDT
Premier America Credit Union Arena - Northridge, Calif.
Live Stats // Watch
In-game Twitter updates:Â @CSUNWVB
FORÂ STARTERS
The CSUN women's volleyball team (2-13, 0-4 Big West) looks to get back in the win column this week as the Matadors wrap up a season-long, four-match homestand against UC San Diego and Long Beach State. CSUN and UCSD meet Friday at 6 p.m., before the Matadors welcome the Beach to Premier America Credit Union Arena Saturday at 4 p.m.
CSUN opened the homestand last week, falling to UC Riverside in five sets on Friday before UC Davis defeated the Matadors in four sets 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
UC San Diego (8-8, 0-4 Big West) faces CSUN and Cal State Bakersfield this weekend. The Tritons have dropped four straight, all Big West contests, since defeating Belmont (3-2) on Sept. 15 to wrap up the non-conference season. Last week, UCSD fell in straight sets at home to Long Beach State and Hawai'i. Junior Ava McInnes leads the Big West in kills (3.76 per set) and is also second in points (4.48 per set) and sixth in aces (0.33 per set).
Series: Friday's match is the 15th meeting all-time between the Matadors and Tritons with CSUN holding a 10-4 lead in the all-time series. The Matadors are 2-2 all-time against UCSD in Northridge. The Tritons claimed both meetings last season, winning in four sets in La Jolla and in straight sets in Northridge.
Long Beach State (9-5, 3-1 Big West), which travels to Bakersfield on Friday, has won three of four to open the Big West season. The Beach picked up a pair of sweeps over UC San Diego and Hawai'i last week as Natalie Glenn was named Big West Offensive Player of the Week, while junior Savana Chacon was named Big West Defensive Player of the Week, and redshirt sophomore Zayna Meyer was named Big West Setter of the Week.
Series: Saturday's match is the 50th meeting all-time between CSUN and Long Beach State with the Beach holding a 37-12 lead in the series. CSUN is 8-16 all-time in 24 matches against Long Beach in Northridge. The Beach has won nine straight in the series, including 3-2 and 3-0 wins over the Matadors last season.
FOUR MATADORS IN THE BIG WEST RANKINGS
A quartet of CSUN players rank in the top-20 in four Big West statistical categories this week. Redshirt junior Taylor Hunter ranks fifth in hitting this week at .295 while also ranking eighth in blocks at 1.08 per set. Libero Kelsey Knudsen ranks fifth this week in digs, averaging 4.02 per set while Iye Okolo and Paige Sentes both moved into the top-20 this week. With a strong weekend on the blocking front, Okolo moved up to 16th in the Big West, averaging 0.78 blocks per set. With 10 aces in her last six matches, Sentes has moved into 18th place in the Big West, averaging 0.30 aces per set this week.
STARKEY MOVES INTO SECOND IN KILLS, THIRD IN DIGS
With consecutive double-doubles against UC Riverside and UC Davis last week, junior Perri Starkey now ranks second on the Matadors in kills (141) and third in digs (126). Starkey was the CSUN leader in digs against UC Riverside with 18 in five sets before putting down a team-high 15 kills against UC Davis on Saturday. With four double-doubles in 2023, Starkey ranks second to Carisa Barron who has six. Starkey has now recorded double figures in kills six times this season while also posting six double figure dig efforts.
BARRON DOUBLES UP FOR THE SIXTH TIME IN 2023
After posting her first triple-double of the season at Fresno State on Sept. 1, Carisa Barron added her second at Cal State Bakersfield on Sept. 19. Barron also notched her sixth double-double of the season against UC Davis on Saturday with 19 assists and 10 digs. Barron, who now has eight career triple-doubles and 14 career double-doubles, has triples this season against Fresno State (21 assists-13 kills-12 digs) and Bakersfield (17 assists-16 kills-12 digs) and doubles against California Baptist (26 assists-13 digs), Eastern Washington (13 kills-11 assists), Portland (24 assists-11 digs), UTRGV (14 assists-12 kills), San Francisco (25 assists-14 kills) and UC Davis (19 assists-10 digs).
ORSHOFF CONTINUES PURSUIT OF 1,000 CAREER KILLS
Despite being sidelined in five of CSUN's last six matches, 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 89 kills to her CSUN total this season and now needs 125 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.
MATADOR QUICK SETS
Okolo posted a career-high 10 blocks, including four solo against UC Riverside. She now ranks second to Hunter with 35 blocks this season ... Kaia Kanan had 19 assists while matching her season-high with six digs against UC Davis ... Freshman setter Taylor Dunlap posted her first collegiate kill against UC Riverside.
LOOKING AHEAD
After concluding a four-match homestand against this week, CSUN plays road matches at Cal State Fullerton (Oct. 13) and UC Irvine (Oct. 14) next week. The Matadors return home on Oct. 19 to host Cal Poly at 6 p.m.
#GoMatadors
