California State University at Northridge
UC Irvine
Matadors Cap 2023 Season at Home vs. UCI, Cal State Fullerton
11/16/2023 9:37:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
CSUNÂ THIS WEEK:
MATCH #28Â (BIG WEST #17)
UC Irvine Anteaters (9-18, 7-9 Big West) @Â CSUN Matadors (6-21, 4-12 Big West)
Friday, Nov. 17, 2023Â - 6:00 p.m. PT
Premier America Credit Union Arena - Northridge, Calif.Â
ESPN+Â //Â Live Stats
MATCH #29Â (BIG WEST #18)
Cal State Fullerton Titans @ CSUN Matadors
Saturday, Nov. 18, 2023Â - 4:00Â p.m. PT
Premier America Credit Union Arena - Northridge, Calif.
ESPN+Â //Â Live Stats
In-game Twitter updates:Â @CSUNWVB
FORÂ STARTERS
The CSUN women's volleyball team (6-21, 4-12 Big West) wraps up the 2023 season at home this week. The Matadors welcome UC Irvine to Premier America Credit Union Arena on Friday at 6 p.m. before concluding the season Saturday afternoon against Cal State Fullerton.
CSUN split its final two road matches last week, falling in four sets at UC Davis before holding off a late charge by UC Riverside to defeat the Highlanders in five sets on Saturday. CSUN will honor its four seniors (Taylor Hunter, Kelsey Knudsen, Taylor Orshoff and Perri Starkey) prior to Saturday's match.
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 Irvine (9-18, 7-9 Big West) enters the week looking to clinch one of the final two spots in the inaugural 2023 Outrigger Big West Women's Volleyball Championship. UCI is 7-9 with two more wins than UC Riverside at 5-11. UCR must win both matches against Cal Poly and UC Santa Barbara on the road this week to stay in contention. Any combination of an Anteater win and a Highlander loss and UC Irvine will clinch a spot.
Series: Friday's match is the 65th meeting all-time between CSUN and UC Irvine with the Anteaters holding a 34-30 edge in the series. CSUN has won 16 of the 28 matches between the two teams in Northridge. The Anteaters won this season's first meeting in straight sets in Irvine on Oct. 14.
Cal State Fullerton (1-24, 0-16 Big West), which remained winless in Big West play after falling in four sets to Hawaii at home last Saturday, travels Cal State Bakersfield on Friday before closing the season at CSUN. Freshman Aubrey Beaver led the Titans against Hawa'i with 15 kills on a .270 clip while also contributing five digs. Following her was Lyla Traylor who produced a double-double with 12 kills and a team-high 16 digs.Â
Series: Saturday's match is the 57th meeting all-time between the Matadors and Titans with CSUN holding a 42-14 lead in the all-time series. The Matadors are 23-4 all-time against Cal State Fullerton in Northridge. CSUN swept the first meeting between the two teams, winning 25-19, 25-19, 25-19 at Titan Gym in Fullerton.
MATADORS HONOR FOUR SENIORS ON SATURDAY
Saturday's season finale against Cal State Fullerton marks the final collegiate match for a quartet of Matadors. Taylor Hunter, Kelsey Knudsen, Taylor Orshoff, and Perri Starkey.
Hunter, who began her CSUN career as a redshirt in 2019, has moved into the top 10 in all three blocking categories. She ranks 10th with 34 career solo blocks, 10th with 232 career block assists and 10th with 266 career total blocks. Hunter leads the Matadors this season with 16 solo blocks and 73 block assists while ranking third with 193 kills. In her one season as a Matador, Knudsen leads CSUN with 400 digs (3.96 dps) which ranks fourth among Big West players. Knudsen has reached double figures in digs in 22 of CSUN's 26 matches this season. Orshoff was closing in on 1,000 career kills this season when she had her final season cut short by injuries. Orshoff opened the season with 786 career kills, and added 91 kills to her CSUN total this season giving her 877 kills as a Matador. 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 has reached double figures in kills five times this season and 41 times in her CSUN career. Starkey has stepped in as one of CSUN's top offensive threats in her one season as a Matador. She leads CSUN with 265 kills while ranking 16th in the Big West, averaging 2.50 kills per set.
BARRON LEADS BIG WEST WITH FOUR TRIPLE-DOUBLES Â
After leading the Big West with six triple-doubles in 2022, junior Carisa Barron has again moved to the top of the conference with four triple-doubles this season. After posting her first triple-double of the season against Fresno State on Sept. 1, Barron has added three more over CSUN's next 22 matches. She also reached the impressive mark at Cal State Bakersfield (Sept. 19), at Cal State Fullerton (Oct. 13), and at UC Santa Barbara (Oct. 21). The only Big West women's volleyball player with multiple triple-doubles this season (UC San Diego's Lauren Brooker has one), Barron now has 10 career triple-doubles. She ranks third on the Matadors with 237 kills (2.24 kps) while also averaging a team-high 4.61 assists per set along with 2.02 digs per set. With 724 total attacks this season, she has taken the most swings from the setter spot since she swung 744 times last season. Barron also notched her eighth double-double of the season with 29 assists and 11 digs against Cal State Bakersfield on Oct. 26.
FOUR CSUN PLAYERS RANK IN BIG WEST STATS
Four CSUN players continue to rank in the top-20 in four different individual Big West statistical categories this week. Knudsen, who has a team-high 400 digs this season, remains fourth at 3.96 digs per set. Knudsen has a team-high 400 digs over 101 sets played this season. Freshman DS Paige Sentes ranks 10th in service aces this week at 0.33 aces per set. Hunter remains 12th in blocks per set this week at 0.84 with a team-high 89 total blocks in 106 sets. After moving into the top-20 in kills per set two weeks ago, Starkey moved up to 16th at 2.50 kills per set this week. As a team, the Matadors rank as high as seventh in three categories this week; kills per set (11.51), assists per set (10.75), and blocks per set (1.90) and are eighth in two other statistical categories.
MATADORS ON CAREER, SEASON CHARTS
Barron and Hunter have reached the top-10 in CSUN's Rally Scoring era in recent weeks. With 1,719 career assists in 342 career sets, Barron has moved into the CSUN career top-10 in assists. Last week, Barron moved past Angela Hupp (1,718) into 10th place in program history. She also moved into sixth place on the CSUN rally scoring era list. With a team-high 35 aces this season, Paige Sentes has moved into the CSUN season top-10. She moved into a tie for fifth place with Jessika Hammerich and Jennifer McNees, trailing Siara Grayson and fourth by just two aces. Sentes' total is the most since Kristey Markle set a CSUN rally scoring era record with 41 aces in 2017.Â
MATADOR QUICK SETS
Kaia Kanan set several season-highs and a pair of career-highs in Saturday's win at UC Riverside. Kanan had a career-high 26 assists against the Highlanders while also matching her career high with three aces. She also set a season-high two kills on five attempts in the win ... Saturday's five-set win at UC Riverside was the Matadors' second five-set win of the season. CSUN is now 2-8 in five-set matches and has won its last two (UCR, Long Beach State) after dropping its first eight of the season ... After last week, the Matadors are now 3-9 this season in three-set matches, 1-4 in four sets and 2-8 in five set decisions.
#GoMatadors
