California State University at Northridge
UC Davis
CSUN Wraps Up Road Schedule at UC Davis & UC Riverside
11/8/2023 10:02:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
CSUNÂ THIS WEEK:
MATCH #26Â (BIG WEST #15)
CSUN Matadors (5-20, 3-11Â Big West) at UC Davis (12-12, 7-7Â Big West)
Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2023Â - 3:00 p.m. PT
University Credit Union Center - Davis, Calif.Â
ESPN+ //Â Live Stats
MATCH #27Â (BIG WEST #16)
CSUN Matadors @ UC Riverside
Saturday, Nov. 11, 2023Â - 4:00Â p.m. PT
SRC Arena - Riverside, Calif.
ESPN+ //Â Live Stats
In-game Twitter updates:Â @CSUNWVB
FORÂ STARTERS
The CSUN women's volleyball team (5-20, 3-11 Big West) wraps up a four-match road swing this week with matches at UC Davis and UC Riverside. CSUN takes on the Aggies Wednesday at 3 p.m., before meeting the Highlanders in Riverside on Saturday at 4 p.m. The two matches this week mark the final road contests for the Matadors in the regular season. CSUN is coming off a pair of 3-0 losses at Long Beach State and UC San Diego last week.
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 Davis (12-12, 7-7 Big West) hosts CSUN and Cal State Bakersfield this week to wrap up a six-match homestand. The Aggies need just one win to clinch a spot in the inaugural Big West Conference Championship tournament. UC Davis split a pair of home matches last week, falling to UC Irvine (3-2) and defeating Cal State Fullerton (3-2) for its first home win.
Series: Wednesday's match is the 40th meeting all-time between CSUN and UC Davis with the Matadors holding a 22-17 edge in the series. CSUN is 9-9 all-time in 18 matches against the Aggies in Davis. UC Davis claimed this season's first meeting in four sets in Northridge on Sept. 30.
UC Riverside (6-20, 5-9 Big West), which hosts Cal State Bakersfield on Thursday, remained in contention for a berth in the Big West Championship with a pair of home wins last week. The Highlanders picked up identical 3-1 wins over Cal State Fullerton and UC Irvine to improve to improve to 5-9 in Big West play.Â
Series: Saturday's match is the 86th meeting all-time between the Matadors and Highlanders with CSUN holding a 62-23 lead in the all-time series. The Matadors are 23-10 all-time against UCR in Riverside. The Highlanders topped CSUN in five sets in Northridge on Sept. 29.
BIG WEST POSTSEASON PICTURE
With four matches remaining in Big West play, CSUN is still alive for one of final two berths in the first-ever Outrigger Big West Women's Volleyball Championship. At 3-11, the Matadors would need to win their final four matches and need UC Davis and UC Irvine to each lose its four remaining matches. CSUN opens the week trailing UC Davis (7-7) by four games and UC Irvine (6-8) by three games for the final two postseason berths. UC Santa Barbara (13-1), Long Beach State (12-2), Hawai'i (10-4), and Cal Poly (10-4) have all clinched spots in the inaugural Big West Championship which will be held Nov. 22-25 at the Walter Pyramid in Long Beach.
KNUDSEN MOVES UP TO FOURTH IN DIGS IN BIG WESTÂ
As four CSUN players continue to rank in the top-20 in four different individual Big West statistical categories this week, libero Kelsey Knudsen moved up to fourth in digs with an impressive week. Knudsen, who has a team-high 365 digs this season, scooped up 23 digs in three sets at UC San Diego last week which followed up an 11-dig performance at Long Beach State. Knudsen has now reached double figures in digs in 20 of CSUN's 24 matches this season. Freshman DS Paige Sentes ranks sixth in service aces this week at 0.35 aces per set. Taylor Hunter remains 12th in blocks per set this week at 0.87 with a team-high 84 total blocks in 97 sets. After moving into the top-20 in kills per set last week, Perri Starkey moved up to 17th at 2.46 kills per set this week. As a team, the Matadors rank as high as seventh in four categories this week; kills per set (11.40), opponent hitting percentage (.231), assists per set (10.67), and blocks per set (1.96) and are eighth in two other statistical categories.
MATADORS ON CAREER, SEASON CHARTS
Hunter and Carisa Barron have reached the top-10 in CSUN's Rally Scoring era in recent weeks. With 1,673 career assists in 333 career sets, Barron has moved into seventh place and now trails sixth-place Angela Hupp (1,718) by 45 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 Oct. 26. Hunter has moved into the top 10 in all three blocking categories. She ranks 10th with 33 career solo blocks, 10th with 228 career block assists and 10th with 261 career total blocks. Hunter leads the Matadors this season with 15 solo blocks and 69 block assists. With a team-high 34 aces this season, Paige 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.
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 Oct. 26. 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 is currently tied for second on the team with 219 kills (2.26 kps). Barron also has 219 kills which ranks behind Perri Starkey's team-high 239 kills.Â
MATADOR QUICK SETS
With three players surpassing 200 kills this season, the Matadors are also closing in on four players with 200+ digs. Knudsen (365), Starkey (210), and Sentes (201) have each surpassed 200 digs with Barron (194) just six digs away ... CSUN is a perfect 3-0 when hitting .300 or better as a team and 0-8 when hitting below .150 ... The Matadors are now 3-9 this season in three-set matches, 1-3 in four sets and 1-8 in five set decisions ... Road losses at Long Beach State and UC San Diego last week dropped the Matadors to 1-11 away from home. In addition to a 3-0 win at Cal State Fullerton, CSUN also has a 3-0 neutral site win against UTRGV in San Francisco on Sept. 15.
LOOKING AHEAD
After concluding a four-match road swing at UC Davis and UC Riverside this week, CSUN returns home on Nov. 17 to close the regular season against UC Irvine and Cal State Fullerton (Nov 18).
#GoMatadors
