California State University at Northridge
Texas
CSUN Heads to Long Beach to Take on Texas, Utah
3/15/2023 10:52:00 AM | Beach Volleyball
MATADORS THIS WEEK:
Friday, Mar. 17, 2023
Long Beach City College - Long Beach, Calif.
CSUNÂ vs. Texas - 10:30 a.m.
CSUN vs. Utah - 2:30 p.m.Â
In-game Twitter updates:Â @CSUNBeach
FORÂ STARTERS
The CSUN beach volleyball team (7-5) was originally scheduled to conclude a stretch of 11 home matches in 14 days on Thursday, hosting San Diego City College in a pair of exhibition matches at the CSUN Beach Volleyball Complex. Those matches have now been canceled due to the incessant rain in the San Fernando Valley.
The Matadors will next head to Long Beach on Friday for a four-team event at Long Beach City College as the Matadors will take on Texas and Utah. Originally scheduled to be played on campus at Long Beach State, the matches have been moved to nearby Long Beach City College with adjusted start times of at 9:30 (vs. Texas) and 11:30 a.m. (vs. Utah).
FOLLOW YOUR MATADORS ONLINE
Follow CSUN Matadors beach volleyball on-line at the official home of CSUN athletics, www.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 beach volleyball schedule page of GoMatadors.com.Â
Fans are also encouraged to check the CSUN Athletics Department's official Twitter feed (@GoMatadors) and the beach volleyball-specific feed (@CSUNBeach) for news and notes throughout the week as well as updates of matches in progress.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
Texas (0-6) wrapped up a season-opening, six-match trip to Hawaii on Tuesday, falling 5-0 to No. 9 Hawai'i. The Longhorns' No. 2 pair of Molly Phillips and Madisen Skinner pushed the Bows' Kylin Loker and Riley Wagoner to three sets before falling 15-12 in the third. Texas, in its first season of beach volleyball, will take on No. 13  Long Beach State and the Matadors on Friday before meeting Utah and No. 16 Stetson on Saturday.
Series:Â Friday's match will be the first-ever between the Matadors and Texas in beach volleyball.
Utah (4-10) will complete a stretch of 14 consecutive matches in California with four matches in Long Beach this weekend. The Utes will take on the Matadors and No. 16 Stetson on Friday before meeting Texas and No. 13 Long Beach State on Saturday. The duo of Sonja Wessel and Savannah Cottam has a team-high seven wins this season playing in the No. 5 pair.
Series: Friday's match will be the first-ever meeting between the Matadors and Utes. The two teams were scheduled to play in Arizona in 2020 but the season was canceled due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. Utah played a pair of matches at the CSUN Beach Volleyball Complex earlier this season (Mar. 7), falling to Concordia Irvine (4-1) and sweeping Hope International (5-0).
MAUGHAN SETS CSUN INDIVIDUAL WINS RECORD
Already the program record holder in pairs wins (43), Mikaela Maughan passed Kailey Klein to become CSUN's all-time individual wins leader when she teamed up with Emily Sparks to defeat Boise State on Mar. 4. The win was the 53rd individual win for Maughan, who came into the 2023 season trailing Klein by three career wins (52-49). She equaled Klein after picking up wins over Concordia (Feb. 23), Cal State LA (Mar. 3) and CSU Bakersfield (Mar. 4) before setting the record with a 2-0 win over Boise State. Maughan has since bumped her career total to 56 with a second 2-0 win over Boise State along with 2-0 wins over Hope International (Mar. 7) and The Master's University (Mar. 8).
CSUN QUICK SETS
Abbey Sweeting and Gabriela Griego picked up their team-leading eighth win of the season Sunday against UAB. CSUN's No. 5 pair earned the Matadors' lone win on the day while improving to a team best 8-3. Sweeting and Griego are now 6-2 at the No. 5 position and 2-1 in the exhibition pair this season ... Sparks and Maughan carry a 7-3 overall record (all at No. 2) into this week's play while Seyvion Waggoner and Mac McCarthy are also over .500 on the season with a 6-4 record (1-0 at No. 3, 5-4 at No. 4).Â
BIG WEST BEACH VOLLEYBALL
2023 not only marks CSUN's 10th season of beach volleyball but its eighth season as a member of the Big West Conference. The Matadors are 6-12 all-time in the Big West Championship since the inaugural championship in 2016. The postseason tournament was not held in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
At the 2022 Big West Championship, held at Cal Poly's Swanson Beach Volleyball Complex, the Matadors finished in fifth place after winning one of three matches. CSUN opened with a 5-0 loss to Cal Poly before staving off elimination with a 4-1 win over Sacramento State. The Matadors then fell to UC Davis in an elimination match and finished the championship with a 1-2 record.
The 2021 Big West Championships, at Rosie's Dog Beach, finished in a similar formula for the Matadors. CSUN opened with a 5-0 loss to Hawai'i before sweeping Sacramento State, 5-0. The Matadors were then eliminated by CSU Bakersfield in a close 3-2 final.
The Matadors were the No. 4 seed in the seven-team field at the 2019 Big West Tournament at Zuma Beach in Malibu. CSUN finished 2-2 in the championship tournament, their best showing since also finishing 2-2 in the inaugural conference tournament in 2016. After winning two of three matches on the opening day, CSUN came up empty against No. 3 seed Long Beach State on Saturday and was the fourth squad eliminated from the tournament. Cal Poly, the No. 2 seed, went undefeated in four tournament matches to capture its first conference championship along with the Big West's automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament. Hawai'i, the top seed coming in, finished second.
At the 2018 championship in Hawai'i, the Matadors were seeded fourth in the six-team field in but were upset by fifth-seeded CSU Bakersfield in the opening round (3-2). CSUN then fell to No. 2 seed Cal Poly in an elimination match (5-0).Â
The Matadors were also seeded fourth at the 2017 Big West Tournament held at Pismo Beach, but fell to Sacramento State (3-2) and Cal Poly (5-0) in their two tournament matches.Â
In 2016, CSUN was the third seed in the inaugural conference tournament before finishing 2-2 including a close 3-2 loss to Cal Poly in a third-round elimination match at Huntington Beach.
CSUN BEACH VOLLEYBALL HISTORY
With a 7-5 record in 2023, the Matadors are now 90-101 (.471) all-time in their 10th season of beach volleyball, including a 59-34 (.581) record on their home sand.Â
After setting a program record for most wins in one season with 17 in 2018, the Matadors matched that total with a 17-17 overall record in 2022. CSUN also came within one victory of equaling the mark with a 16-12 record in 2019.
The Matadors have steadily improved since the induction of the sport in 2014. Playing 10 matches, all on the road in its inaugural season, CSUN finished 1-9 in 2014. The Matadors picked up their first-ever beach volleyball win on Mar. 27, 2014 when CSUN defeated Oregon (3-2) at USC's Merle Norman Stadium.
The Matadors then debuted their on-campus facility in 2015, playing 11 matches overall and four matches at home. CSUN's first-ever home match was Mar. 5, 2015 against No. 7 UCLA. CSUN won at home for the first time on Mar. 9 of the 2015 season when the Matadors defeated TCU, 4-1. CSUN ultimately upped its season win total to three culminating with a 3-8 overall season record to close the 2015 season.
The 2016 season saw the Matadors finish 8-14 before falling to Cal Poly in the third round of the Big West Tournament. CSUN then posted an overall record of 6-12 in 2017 before winning a program-record with 17 times in 2018. After posting 16 wins in 2019, the 2020 season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic with the Matadors off to a 4-1 start. CSUN won 11 times in 2021, finishing with an overall record of 11-15.
#GoMatadors
