California State University at Northridge
Long Beach State
CSUN Opens Four-Match Road Trip Friday at Long Beach State
11/2/2023 12:12:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
CSUNÂ THIS WEEK:
MATCH #24 (BIG WEST #13)
CSUN Matadors (5-18, 3-9Â Big West) at Long Beach State (16-6, 10-2 Big West)
Friday, Nov. 3, 2023Â - 7:00 p.m. PDT
Walter Pyramid - Long Beach, Calif.
ESPN+ //Â Live Stats
MATCH #25 (BIG WEST #14)
CSUN Matadors @ UC San Diego
Friday, Oct. 27, 2023Â - 6:00Â p.m. PDT
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 (5-18, 3-9 Big West) opens the final month of the regular season this week with road matches at Long Beach State and UC San Diego. The Matadors and Beach meet for the second time this season on Friday at 7 pm before CSUN caps the two-match set with the Tritons Saturday at 7 p.m.
CSUN is coming off a two-match split at home last week as the Matadors topped Cal State Bakersfield in four sets before falling in straight sets to Hawai'i.
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
Long Beach State (16-6, 10-2 Big West) won its sixth straight after defeating UC Davis (3-1) on the road last Saturday. The Beach hit .328 as a team and has not lost since falling in five sets at CSUN on Oct. 7. Kameron Bacon was named Big West Defensive Player of the Week for the second time this season after averaging 1.88 blocks and 1.38 kills per set. The Beach leads the Big West, hitting .247 as a team while also averaging a conference-best 1.76 aces per set.
Series: Friday's match is the 51st meeting all-time between CSUN and Long Beach State with the Beach holding a 37-13 lead in the series. The Matadors snapped a nine-match Beach winning streak with a 3-2 win in Northridge on Oct. 7. CSUN improved to 9-16 all-time against Long Beach State at home. The Matadors are 4-21 in 25 matches all-time in Long Beach.
UC San Diego (15-9, 7-5 Big West), which hosts Cal State Bakersfield on Friday, has won four straight after picking up its second straight road sweep last Saturday, defeating UC Riverside, 25-21, 25-15, 25-14. Ava McInnes, who leads the Big West averaging 3.81 kills per set, had nine kills (.450), 11 digs, two aces and a block at UCR. UCSD is hitting .211 as a team which ranks fourth in the Big West.
Series: Saturday's match is the 16th meeting all time between the Matadors and Tritons with CSUN holding a 10-5 lead in the all-time series. UC San Diego claimed the first meeting between the two teams in straight sets on Oct. 6 and the Tritons have now won five straight (all Big West matches). The Matadors are 4-2 all-time against the Tritons in La Jolla.
MILLER'S 21 KILLS A CSUN SEASON-HIGHÂ
The Matadors had not had a player reach 20 kills this season until sophomore Leah Miller reached the mark with 21 against Cal State Bakersfield on Friday. With her season-high, Miller helped CSUN to a season-high 63 kills as a team in the four-set win. The Matadors also surpassed 60 kills as a team one other time this season, in a 3-2 loss at San Francisco on Sept. 16. Miller, who had a previous high this season of 16 kills in consecutive matches (Fresno State, Eastern Washington) in early September, has now reached double figures in kills eight times this season. She currently ranks third on the team with 209 kills (2.30 kps) behind Perri Starkey (222 kills, 2.44 kps) and Carisa Barron (211 kills, 2.32 kps).
FOUR MATADORS IN THIS WEEK'S BIG WEST RANKINGS
Four CSUN players rank in the top-20 in four different individual Big West statistical categories this week. Freshman DS Paige Sentes and libero Kelsey Knudsen are the highest ranked CSUN players this week, ranking fifth in service aces and digs respectively. With a team-high 34 aces in 91 sets, Sentes is fifth this week averaging 0.37aces per set. Knudsen continues to rank fifth in digs this week, averaging 3.85 per set with 331 digs over 86 sets played. Taylor Hunter remains 12th in blocks per set this week at 0.89 with a team-high 81 total blocks in 91 sets. Starkey moved into the top-20 in kills per set for the first time this season, ranking 19th at 2.44 kills per set. As a team, the Matadors rank as high as seventh in three categories this week; kills per set (11.45), assists per set (10.70), and blocks per set (1.96) and are eighth in three other statistical categories.
BIG WEST POSTSEASON PICTURE
With six matches remaining in Big West play, CSUN is still in the hunt for one of six berths in the first-ever Outrigger Big West Women's Volleyball Championship. The Matadors (3-9) open the week tied with UC Riverside two games behind UC Irvine (5-7) for the sixth and final postseason berth. CSUN and UCI will play again in Northridge on Nov. 17, the Matadors' second-to-last match of the season. UC Santa Barbara (12-1), Hawai'i (10-2), and Long Beach State (10-2) have all but clinched postseason berths while Cal Poly (9-4) is fourth heading into this week. UC San Diego is fifth at 7-5 but will be ineligible for postseason play until next season. UCI (5-7), CSUN (3-9), UCR (3-9), Cal State Bakersfield (2-10), and Cal State Fullerton (0-12) round out the standings this week.
MATADORS ON CAREER, SEASON CHARTS
Barron and Hunter have reached the top-10 in CSUN's Rally Scoring era in recent weeks. With 1,648 career assists, Barron has moved into seventh place and now trails sixth-place Angela Hupp (1,718) by 70 assists. Barron, who posted her fourth triple-double of the season (10th overall) at UC Santa Barbara on Oct. 21, notched her eighth double-double of the season with 29 assists and 11 digs against Cal State Bakersfield on Thursday. Hunter has moved into the top 10 in all three blocking categories. She ranks 10th with 32 career solo blocks, 10th with 226 career block assists and 10th with 258 career total blocks. Hunter leads the Matadors this season with 14 solo blocks and 67 block assists. With a team-high 34 aces this season, Sentes has moved into the CSUN season top-10. She moved into a seventh-place tie with Erica Aere who also served 34 aces in 2002. She passed Nadine Nickel (2001, 2003), Sam Orlandini (2010), and Breanna Mitchell (2022) who now share ninth place with 33. Sentes' total is the most since Kristey Markle set a CSUN rally scoring era record with 41 aces in 2017.
MATADOR QUICK SETS
After finishing 1-3 in August and 1-10 in September, the Matadors had their best month of the season, finishing 3-5 in October ... Three of CSUN's five wins have come at home ... Starkey is the first CSUN player this season to reach 200 kills and 200 digs ... Nieko Thomas made her first start of the season against Hawai'i, her first start since Oct. 2, 2021, against Cal Poly. Thomas had three blocks in both matches last week, including a career-high two solo stuffs against Cal State Bakersfield.
LOOKING AHEAD
After road matches at Long Beach State and UC San Diego this week, the Matadors remain on the road next week traveling to UC Davis (Nov. 8) and UC Riverside (Nov. 11). CSUN then returns home on Nov. 17 to close the regular season against UC Irvine and Cal State Fullerton (Nov 18).
#GoMatadors
