California State University at Northridge
Concordia-Irvine
CSUN Hosts Three Matches Around a Wednesday Dual at The Master's University
3/6/2023 4:47:00 PM | Beach Volleyball
MATADORS THIS WEEK:
Tuesday, Mar. 7, 2023
CSUN Beach Volleyball Complex - Northridge, Calif.
CSUNÂ vs. Concordia Irvine - 9Â a.m.
CSUN vs. Hope International - 3 p.m.
Wednesday, Mar. 8, 2023
TMU Beach Volleyball Courts - Santa Clarita, Calif..
CSUNÂ @ The Master's University - 1Â p.m.
Sunday, Mar. 12, 2023
CSUN Beach Volleyball Complex - Northridge, Calif.
CSUN vs. UABÂ - 3Â p.m.
In-game Twitter updates:Â @CSUNBeach
FORÂ STARTERS
After playing six matches over three days last weekend, the CSUN beach volleyball team (5-3) concludes an eight-match homestand on Tuesday before traveling to Santa Clarita to take on The Master's University on Wednesday at 1 p.m. The Matadors then return home for a Sunday dual match against UAB at 3 p.m.
Tuesday's action features four teams as CSUN will take on Concordia at 9 a.m. and Hope International at 3 p.m. In between, Utah will take on the same two teams at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. to conclude a full day of beach volleyball.
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
Concordia Irvine (2-6) fell to a pair of ranked teams last Saturday as the Golden Eagles dropped matches to No. 18 Pepperdine (5-0) and No. 8 Loyola Marymount (5-0) in Malibu. CUI's No. 4 pair of Kelissa Lamoine and Eva Prewitt stretched Pepperdine's 4's to a third set before falling 15-10.
Series: Tuesday's match is 12th meeting all-time between the Matadors and Golden Eagles with CSUN winning eight of the previous 11 matches. The Matadors claimed a 3-2 win in the season-opening tri-dual on Feb. 23. Prior to that, CUI claimed a 3-2 win in Northridge in 2022 and had won two of the last three matches between the two teams. Â
Hope International (4-4) played three matches last Saturday in Huntington Beach, defeating Life Pacific (5-0) and San Diego Christian (5-0) before falling 3-2 to Ottawa University (AZ).
Series:Â Tuesday's match between the Matadors and Royals is just the second in the series. CSUN took a 5-0 decision in the first meeting in 2021 in Northridge.
The Master's (5-5) played three matches in Huntington Beach, defeating Arizona Christian (3-2) for its third straight win on Friday before falling to Vanguard (5-0) and OUAZ (4-1) on Saturday. The Mustangs, 2-1 at home in 2023, will host CSUN for the first time in series history.
Series: Wednesday's match will be the sixth meeting all-time between the Matadors and Mustangs with CSUN unbeaten in the previous five dual matches. The Matadors won 5-0 in 2020 and twice in 2022 and won 4-1 twice during the 2021 season.
UAB (5-4) has won three straight since falling to South Carolina (4-1) and LSU (5-0) last Saturday. The Blazers came back with wins over Central Arkansas (4-1), North Alabama (3-2) and Tusculum (3-2) on Sunday and will play three matches in Malibu this weekend against North Florida, San Francisco and Pepperdine before heading to CSUN on Sunday.Â
Series: Sunday's match will be the first ever match between CSUN and UAB.
CSUN CAPS BUSY WEEK WITH SUNDAY TRI-DUAL SWEEP
The CSUN beach volleyball team (5-3) capped a busy six-match weekend with a Sunday sweep over Houston Christian and Boise State.
CSUN 4, HCUÂ 1
The Matadors and Huskies met for the first time to open Sunday's tri-match. HCU picked up its only point of the day as Kristen Kleymeyer and Linday Harris swept Emily Sparks and Mikaela Maughan at No. 2 by the score of 21-18, 21-13. Seyvion Waggonerand Mac McCarthy pulled the Matadors even in the No. 4 pair, taking a three-set win (18-21, 21-9, 15-10) over Shelby O'Neal and Paige Palmer. The exhibition (No. 6) pair did not finish as CSUN's Abigail Alvarez and Kinley Lindhardt split two sets against HCU's Victoria Kenney and Elena Ren.
True McCullough and Victoria Rogers gave the Matadors a 2-1 lead as CSUN took the No. 3 pair over Abbey Bufkin and Abbey Reinard, 21-18, 21-13. Lauren Eknoian and Tasha Mae then clinched the win by going the distance to to win the No. 1 pair over Allison Stanfill and Maddie Butters, 18-21, 21-14, 21-19. Abbey Sweeting and Gabriela Griego made it 4-1 CSUN as the Matadors' No. 5 pair also won in three sets over Mary Alper and Kylann Griffith by the count of 21-19, 18-21, 15-12.
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CSUN 3, BOISE STATE 2
After Boise State defeated HCU 3-2 in the middle dual, the Matadors and Broncos and Matadors met for the second straight day. Boise State claimed a 3-2 decision on Saturday before CSUN won by the same score on Sunday. The Matadors jumped out to 2-0 lead when Sparks and Maughan earned a 21-16, 21-18 victory over Kaylee Mejia and Lily Patock. The win was the 54th career individual win for Maughan who took over as the program's record holder with her 53rd win against the Broncos on Saturday. Waggoner and McCarthy then went three sets to hold off Joey Benson and Emilia Guerra-Acuna (21-18, 20-22, 15-11) in the No. 4 pair. The Broncos won the exhibition pair as Aris Vetter and Sharli O'Neil took three sets to get by Abigail Alvarez and Kinley Lindhardt, 21-12, 21-17, 15-12.
The Matadors clinched their second win of the day and their first over Boise State since 2015 when Sweeting and Griego swept Anika Christensen and Abbie Wolf, 21-13, 21-16 in the No. 5 pair. The Broncos would capture the final two pairs of the day as Rori Chartier and Ava Anderson posted a 21-13, 21-16 win over Rogers and McCullough in the No. 3 pair and Sierra Land and Madison Nichols defeated Eknoian and Mae in three sets (15-21, 21-15, 15-8) to make the final score 3-2.
MAUGHAN SETS CSUN INDIVIDUAL WINS RECORD
Already the program record holder in pairs wins (43 with Darbi Honeycutt), Mikaela Maughan passed Kailey Klein last weekend to become CSUN's all-time leader with 54 individual wins. Maughan, who came into the 2023 season trailing Klein by three wins (52-49), 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 on Saturday (Mar. 4). Maughan bumped her career total to 54 with a 2-0 win over Boise State to cap Sunday's tri-dual.
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
After opening the homestand with four wins in six matches, the Matadors are now 88-99 (.471) all-time in their 10th season of beach volleyball, including a 58-32 (.644) 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
