California State University at Northridge
Cal State LA
CSUN Hosts Cal State LA on Thursday in Final Home Duals
4/12/2023 6:07:00 PM | Beach Volleyball
MATADORS THIS WEEK:
Thursday, Apr. 13, 2023
CSUN Beach Volleyball Complex - Northridge, Calif.
Cal State LA at CSUNÂ - 10:00 a.m.
Cal State LA at CSUN - 12:00 p.m.
Friday, Apr. 14, 2023
Barnes Beach Volleyball Complex - Bakersfield, Calif.
CSUN at CSU Bakersfield - 10:00 a.m.
CSUN vs. Westcliff - 12:00 p.m.
In-game Twitter updates:Â @CSUNBeach
FORÂ STARTERS
The CSUN beach volleyball team (13-13) takes to the home sand for the final this season this Thursday as the Matadors welcome Cal State LA for matches at 10 a.m. and noon. CSUN then heads to Bakersfield's Barnes Beach Volleyball Complex on Friday to take on the host Roadrunners at 10 a.m. and Westcliff at noon. The two matches on Friday brings the 2023 regular season to an end as the Matadors will then begin preparation for the 2023 Big West Beach Volleyball Championships at Queens Beach in Hawai'i (Apr. 21-22).
CSUN is 4-3 over its last seven matches but has won two straight home duals heading into Thursday's pair of matches. won three of its last four and four of its last five dual matches dating back to a 5-0 win over Sacramento State on Mar. 26. Last week, the Matadors split a tri-dual in Irvine, sweeping Saint Katherine (5-0) before falling to Concordia Irvine (3-2).
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
Cal State LA (0-8)Â dropped its seventh and eighth straight dual matches last Thursday (Apr. 6), falling to Pepperdine (5-0) and Long Beach State (5-0) in Long Beach. The Golden Eagles are 0-4 in road dual matches this season and 0-4 in neutral site duals.
Series: The two matches are Thursday mark the 11th and 12th meetings all-time between CSUN and Cal State LA dating back to 2017. The Matadors are 10-0 in the series after defeating the Golden Eagles, 4-1 in Northridge on Mar. 3.
CSU Bakersfield (14-7) has won three of its last four dual matches after splitting a pair of home matches last Saturday at home. After sweeping Pacific 5-0 to open the day, the Roadrunners dropped a 4-1 decision against Cal Poly. Bakersfield is 4-1 in five home dual matches this season.
Series: Friday's match will be the 26th meeting all-time between the Matadors and 'Runners with CSUN holding a 13-12 edge in the series. The 25-match series between the Matadors and CSU Bakersfield, which dates back to 2014, is the largest in CSUN's beach program history. The two teams have met twice this season with CSUB winning 3-2 in Northridge and 4-1 in San Luis Obispo.
Westcliff (18-3) defeated No. 1 Corban 3-2 last Saturday in Chula Vista to advance to the NAIA Women's Beach National Championships in Panama City Beach, Fla. (Apr. 20-22). The Warriors have won 14 straight dual matches since a 5-0 loss to CSU Bakersfield in Northridge on Mar. 3.
Series: The Matadors and Warriors will meet for the fifth time on Friday with the two teams splitting the previous four dual matches. CSUN claimed a 3-2 win over the Warriors on Mar. 3 after Westcliff claimed 4-1 and 3-2 wins in 2022. CSUN won the first dual, 4-1 in 2019.
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 14 wins this season, Maughan has now bumped her career total to 63 heading into this week's matches.
CSUN QUICK SETS
The Matadors improved to 8-6 on their home sand following a pair of 5-0 wins over Saint Katherine and San Francisco on Mar. 31. With two home duals remaining on Thursday, CSUN can reach double figures in home wins for the fourth time since 2018. The Matadors set the program record with 13 home wins last season and finished 10-8 in 2021 and 10-3 in 2018. CSUN, 3-3 over its last six home dual matches, came within one win of double figures after finishing 9-3 in 12 home duals in 2019 ... Sweeting and Griego continue to hold the team wins lead with a record of 16-9. The pair is 3-3 in the No. 4's, 11-5 in the No. 5's and 2-1 in the No. 6's. Griego and Sweeting both lead the Matadors in individual wins with 17 ... Three other Matador pairs also have double figures in wins this season. Eknoian and Tasha Mae are 14-12 in the No. 1's while Sparks and Maughan are 13-11 in No. 2's and Seyvion Waggoner and Mac McCarthy are 11-4 on the season (4-0 at No. 3, 7-4 at No. 4).
SENIOR DAY ON THE SAND
The CSUN beach volleyball program honored seniors Darynne Bickers, Lauren Eknoian, Gabriela Griego and Abbey Sweeting on Mar. 31. Bickers played in four matches in 2022 after transferring from Ventura College ... Eknoian is 14-12 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 16-9 record. Griego, who redshirted the 2022 season, has a co-team-high 17 individual wins this season ... Sweeting, also a 2022 Big West All-Academic Team honoree, comes into the week with 41 career wins which currently ranks sixth in program history. In addition to her 16-9 record this season (17-9 individual), she finished 15-16 in 2022, 8-9 in 2021 and 2-0 in 2020.
BIG WEST BEACH VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS SET FOR APR. 21-22
All seven Big West teams are slated to take to the sand for the 2023 Big West Beach Volleyball Championship at Queen's Beach in Honolulu. The two-day double-elimination bracket will keep the courts action packed to determine The Big West's champion.
Last year, tournament hosts and No. 3 seed Cal Poly earned their third consecutive Big West title, topping the No. 1 Hawai'i in the third-straight championship final duel by a score of 3-2. A conference-sponsored sport since 2016, only the Mustangs and Rainbow Wahine have been victors in the event. Hawai'i earned the first three straight titles, and are now joined by Cal Poly with three-peat status.
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 13-13 record in 2023, the Matadors are now 96-109 (.468) all-time in their 10th season of beach volleyball, including a 61-35 (.635) 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
