California State University at Northridge
UC Davis
Sixth-Seeded Matadors Open Big West Championship vs. UC Davis
4/20/2023 9:13:00 AM | Beach Volleyball
2023Â BIG WEST BEACH VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
First Round Match (Winner's Bracket)
No. 6 Seed CSUN (16-14) vs. No. 3 Seed UC Davis (18-10)Â
Friday, Apr. 21, 2023 - 1:30 p.m. PDT
Queens Beach - Honolulu, O'ahu
Live Results
Big West Beach Volleyball Championship Central
In-game Twitter updates:Â @CSUNBeach
FORÂ STARTERS
The CSUN Beach Volleyball team is seeded sixth heading into the 2023 Big West Beach Volleyball Championship this weekend at Queens Beach in Honolulu, O'ahu. Seven conference teams will take to the courts in Honolulu (Apr. 21-22) looking to capture the Big West's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament in the seventh edition of the Big West Beach Volleyball Championship.
The Matadors (16-14) will open the double elimination championship against No. 3 seed UC Davis (18-10) Friday at 1:30 p.m. (10:30 a.m. local time). The winner of Friday's opening round match will remain in the Winners Bracket to take on the winner of the No. 2 seed Long Beach State vs. No. 7 seed Sacramento State match Friday at 12:15 p.m. The loser will play in an elimination match at 5:15 p.m. against the loser of the Long Beach-Sac State match.
FOLLOW YOUR MATADORS ONLINE
Live results will be available for all Big West Championship matches, check the CSUN Beach Volleyball schedule page for links as matches are determined. Fans can also follow CSUN Matadors beach volleyball on-line at the official home of CSUN athletics, GoMatadors.com. 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.
THE TOURNAMENT FIELD
Hawai'i is the tournament's top seed for the fifth time out of seven years. The Rainbow Wahine enter the double-elimination event ranked eighth in today's AVCA Collegiate Beach Coaches Poll and sporting a 26-6 overall record on the season. UH receives the only bye in the seven-team championship bracket and will open against the winner of CSU Bakersfield (4) vs. Cal Poly (5).
The two-day double-elimination bracket will see a flurry of matches each day of play, beginning at 8 a.m. local time (11 a.m. PDT). Nine matches will be played on Friday and the field will be whittled to four squads who will take to the sand on Saturday. The field will then be pared down to two finalists who will compete for the Big West crown.
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. The Rainbow Wahine won the championship when UH hosted the Big West Beach Championship at Queen's Beach in 2018.
SCOUTING THE AGGIES
UC Davis (18-10) has won five straight heading into the Big West Championship. The Aggies, who defeated the Matadors 4-1 in San Luis Obispo on Mar. 26, defeated Santa Clara (3-2), Sacramento State (4-1) and Pacific (5-0) in Stockton (Apr. 15) in their most recent matches. Against Santa Clara, UCD's No. 3 pair of Mia Olen and Megan Luly came back from a 14-11 deficit to win the match (17-15) and duel for the Aggies.
Series: CSUN is 2-4 all-time against UC Davis which includes a 1-1 mark against the Aggies in the Big West Championship. The two teams met in the 2019 championship at Zuma Beach in 2019 with the Matadors taking a 4-1 win. The Aggies claimed a 5-0 win last season in San Luis Obispo to eliminate CSUN from the tournament.
BIG WEST CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY
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 TOURNAMENT NOTES
CSUN heads into the conference championship tournament with 16 wins this season, the second-most in program history. The Matadors now have 81 wins over the last six seasons, including a program-best 17 victories in both 2018 and 2022.
The Matadors are 1-7 this season against the Big West Championship field with a win over Sacramento State (5-0) on Mar. 26 and CSU Bakersfield (4-1) on Mar. 26. In addition to a 2-4 record against UC Davis, CSUN is 2-10 against Cal Poly, 13-13 against CSU Bakersfield, 0-9 against Hawai'i, 0-18 against Long Beach State and 8-1 vs. Sacramento State. The Matadors finished 1-6 in the Bigger West Invitational earlier this season (Mar. 25-26) in San Luis Obispo; falling to Hawai'i (5-0), Long Beach State (5-0), CSU Bakersfield (4-1), UC Davis (4-1) and Cal Poly (4-1) while defeating Sacramento State (5-0).
Abbey Sweeting and Gabriela Griego set the CSUN single-season pairs record with 19 wins this season. Sweeting and Griego (19-10) are 3-3 at No. 4, 14-6 at No. 5 and 2-1 in the No. 6 pair this season. Lauren Eknoian and Tasha Mae bring a 16-14 record into Friday's match while Emily Sparks and Mikaela Maughan (13-11) and Seyvion Waggoner and Mac McCarthy (11-4) also have double figures in pairs wins this season.
CSUN BEACH VOLLEYBALL HISTORY
With a 16-14 record in 2023, the Matadors are now 99-110 (.474) all-time in their 10th season of beach volleyball, including a 63-35 (.643) 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
