California State University at Northridge
Saint Katherine
Matadors Host Friday Tri-Dual Before Traveling to Irvine on Saturday
3/29/2023 3:25:00 PM | Beach Volleyball
MATADORS THIS WEEK:
Friday, Mar. 31, 2023
CSUN Beach Volleyball Complex - Northridge, Calif.
CSUN vs. Saint Katherine - 9:00 a.m.
CSUN vs. San Francisco - 1:00 p.m.
Saturday, Apr. 1, 2023
Great Park - Irvine, Calif.
CSUN vs. Saint Katherine - 12:00 p.m.
CSUN vs. Concordia - 2:00 p.m.
In-game Twitter updates:Â @CSUNBeach
FORÂ STARTERS
The CSUN beach volleyball team (10-11) hosts its penultimate home event this Friday before traveling to Irvine for a tri-dual on Saturday. The Matadors host Saint Katherine (9 a.m.) and San Francisco (1 p.m.) Friday at the CSUN Beach Volleyball Complex. Two other matches will be played Friday on the CSUN sand as CSU Bakersfield meets Saint Katherine at 11 a.m. and San Francisco at 3 p.m.
CSUN then heads to Irvine on Saturday to meet Saint Katherine and Concordia in a tri-dual beginning at noon.
The Matadors went 1-6 last week, falling to Colorado Mesa (3-2) at home before dropping five of six matches at the Bigger West Invitational in San Luis Obispo. CSUNÂ lost to No. 8 Hawai'i (5-0), No. 12 Long Beach State (5-0) and CSU Bakersfield (4-1) on Saturday. The Matadors dropped Sunday's opener to UC Davis (4-1) before sweeping Sacramento State (5-0) and capping the weekend with a 4-1 loss to host Cal Poly.
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
Saint Katherine (7-5)Â has won five of its last six heading to Northridge on Friday. The Firebirds went 2-1 last Friday, sweeping both Park University and Benedictine Mesa after being swept by Westcliff.
Series: The two matches this week are the third and fourth meetings between the Matadors and Firebirds. CSUN swept USK (5-0) during both the 2021 and 2022 seasons in Northridge.
San Francisco (1-18) picked up its first win of the season on Sunday, defeating the Pacific Tigers, 4-1 before falling to Stanford (5-0) and San Jose State (3-2) on Monday. The Dons have played all 19 of their matches on the road this season where they are 0-5 and 1-13 on neutral site courts.Â
Series: Friday's match is the fourth meeting all-time between the Matadors and Dons with CSUN winning two of the previous three. The teams last met in Santa Cruz at the beginning of the pandemic-shortened 2020 season with the Matadors taking a 3-2 win. CSUN and USF split the first two meetings with the Dons winning 4-1 in 2016 and the Matadors winning 5-0 in 2018.Â
Concordia (9-12) has won five of its last six matches after splitting a pair of duals on Tuesday. The Golden Eagles fell 5-0 to Florida International before sweeping Hope International in Irvine.
Series: Saturday's match is 13th meeting all-time between the Matadors and Golden Eagles with CSUN winning eight of the previous 12 matches. The Matadors claimed a 3-2 win in the season-opening tri-dual at CSUN on Feb. 23 before CUI won 4-1 on Mar. 7, also in Northridge.
SENIOR DAY ON THE SAND
The beach volleyball program will honor seniors Darynne Bickers, Lauren Eknoian, Gabriela Griego and Abbey Sweeting prior to Friday's 1 p.m. match against San Francisco. Bickers played in four matches in 2022 after transferring from Ventura College ... Eknoian is 11-10 this season after finishing 14-20 in 34 matches as a junior in 2022. She earned honorable mention All-Big West honors playing with Emily Sparks last season. Eknoian, a 2022 Big West All-Academic Team selection, also finished 7-15 as a sophomore in 2021 and 4-1 during the abbreviated 2020 season, her first at CSUN ... Griego made her CSUN debut this season and along with Sweeting has a team-leading 12-8 record. Griego, who redshirted the 2022 season, has 13 individual wins this season ... Sweeting, also a 2022 Big West All-Academic Team honoree, comes into the week with 38 career wins which currently ranks sixth in program history. In addition to her 13-8 record this season, she finished 15-16 in 2022, 8-9 in 2021 and 2-0 in 2020.
MAUGHAN SETS CSUN INDIVIDUAL WINS RECORD
Already the program record holder in pairs wins (43), Mikaela Maughan moved past 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. With 10 wins this season, Maughan has now bumped her career total to 59 heading into this week's matches.
CSUN QUICK SETS
The Matadors dropped to 6-6 on their home sand following a 3-2 loss to Colorado Mesa on Mar. 22. After opening the home campaign with five wins in eight matches, CSUN is now 1-3 over its last four home dual matches ... Abbey Sweeting and Gabriela Griego continue to hold the team wins lead with a record of 12-8. The pair is 3-3 in the No. 4's, 7-4 in the No. 5's and 2-1 in the No. 6's. Griego and Sweeting also share the individual wins lead with 13 apiece ... Lauren Eknoian and Tasha Mae also have double figures in wins with an 11-10 record in the No. 1's while Emily Sparks and Mikaela Maughan are 10-11 in the No. 2's ... Seyvion Waggoner and Mac McCarthy both have 10 individual wins this season.
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 10-11 record in 2023, the Matadors are now 93-107 (.465) all-time in their 10th season of beach volleyball, including a 59-35 (.628) 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
