California State University at Northridge
0-1,0-0Big West
Santa Clara
1-0,0-0WCC
CSUN Drops Season Opener to Santa Clara in Five Sets
8/25/2023 3:24:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
SANTA CLARA, Calif. – After dropping the opening set, the CSUN women's volleyball team battled back to win the next two sets before the host Santa Clara Broncos rallied to win the final two sets to claim the season opener for both teams, 3-2 Friday afternoon in the Mission College Gymnasium.
CSUN (0-1) was led by outside hitter Perri Starkey, who posted a team-high 11 kills on a team-high 37 swings. Taylor Orshoff and Carisa Barron each added nine kills with Orshoff hitting .316 on 19 attacks.
For the match, CSUN out-hit the Broncos .164 to .139 and had 57 digs to Santa Clara's 53. The host Broncos served 18 aces to CSUN's six while SCU also out-blocked the Matadors 13-11.
Set 1: Santa Clara 25, CSUN 19
After leading 3-2 in the early going, CSUN fell behind by as many as three at 7-4. The Matadors would rally to tie the score on seven different occasions - the last at 15-15 - when a co-block by Leah Miller and Taylor Hunter gave CSUN its final lead at 16-15. The Broncos would outscore CSUN 10-3 over the final 13 points to seal a 25-19 win.
Set 2: CSUN 25, Santa Clara 16
CSUN turned the tables in set two as it was the Matadors who trailed early before putting together a big late rally. Down 10-7, CSUN pulled even at 13-13 when a co-block from Hunter and Barron capped a 6-3 run. With the score still tied at 16-16, CSUN would engineer a 9-0 run to even the match at one set apiece following the 25-16 win.
Set 3: CSUN 25, Santa Clara 20
The Broncos would outscore CSUN 9-3 to open the third set, and would still hold a six-point cushion at 11-5. A 7-1 CSUN run would tie the score as Barron's kill capped the run. A 6-2 run by the Broncos would open up an 18-14 lead before CSUN would pull even following a 6-2 run of its own. The Matadors would ultimately close the set on a 7-0 run to take a two sets to one lead.
Set 4: Santa Clara 25, CSUN 17
After Hunter's kill gave CSUN an early 3-2 lead, Santa Clara scored five straight and would not trail the rest of the way. The hosts led by as many as 10 (20-10) before sending the match to a fifth a decisive set.
Set 5: Santa Clara 15, CSUN 13
CSUN took advantage of a pair of early Santa Clara errors to lead 3-1 before the Broncos used a 5-1 run to open up a two-point edge at 6-4. CSUN would rally back to within one on five occasions - the last at 11-10 - before Santa Clara held on for the 15-13 win.
NOTES
- Six CSUN players made their Matador debut in the match; Starkey, Miller (7 kills, 4 blocks), Iye Okolo (3 kills, 5 digs), Paige Sentes (9 digs), Taylor Dunlap (16 assists, 4 digs) and Kelsey Knudsen (19 digs).
- CSUN slipped to 20-23 all-time in season openers.
- With the win, Santa Clara extended their win streak in the series to two consecutive matches and improved to 8-5 in the all-time series.
"Both teams looked like they were playing their first match of the year in terms of consistency. I think both teams will be a lot better in the coming weeks. The serve and pass game hurt us today, we didn't do either as well as we're capable of. I think a lot of our players played well at times, we just lacked consistency."
UP NEXT
CSUN continues tournament play at the Santa Clara/SJSU Invitational later tonight as the Matadors take on San Jose State inside Spartan Gym at 8 p.m. The match will stream on the Mountain West Network.
#GoMatadors
