California State University at Northridge
2-9,0-0Big West
San Francisco
6-6,0-0WCC
CSUN Drops Five-Setter at USF to Cap Non-Conference Season
9/16/2023 4:41:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – Playing its sixth five-set match in 11 non-conference matches, the CSUN women's volleyball fell to the San Francisco Dons in its final match of the USF Challenge Saturday afternoon at War Memorial at The Sobrato Center.
Four Matador hitters reached double figures in kills led by Carisa Barron and Perri Starkey who had 14 apiece. Taylor Hunter added 11 kills on .409 hitting while Sophia Jarosz added 11 kills in her first start of the season. Barron completed her fifth double-double of the season by adding 25 assists while also scooping up nine digs.
For the match, San Francisco posted a .235 hitting clip while the Matadors hit .194. CSUN had a strong serving match with a season-high 11 aces while limiting the Dons to three. The blocks and digs totals were close as USF had a slight 14-10 edge in blocks and a 69-67 edge in team digs.
S1 l Okolo gets the tip to fall on set point and #CSUN takes the opening set at USF 25-19 ... Matadors hit .357 to USF's .167 in set one#GoMatadors pic.twitter.com/6KdnCiuwOB
— CSUN Women's Volleyball (@CSUNWVB) September 16, 2023
SET 1: CSUN 25, USF 19
The Matadors got off to an impressive start, hitting .357 with just a single hitting error in the opening set. A Sentes ace gave the Matadors an 8-1 lead and CSUN never trailed. USF pulled to within four at 11-7 before the Matadors scored four straight to push the lead back eight at 15-7.
SET 2: USF 25, CSUN 16
The Dons turned the tables in set two, out-hitting CSUN .308 to -.056. Despite their hitting struggles, the Matadors tied the score at 15-15 following a Starkey kill. An ensuing 6-0 run by USF forced a Matador timeout at 21-15 and CSUN would get no closer down the stretch.
SET 3: USF 25, CSUN 21
The Matadors opened up a 16-12 lead following a Hunter kill before the Dons outscored CSUN 7-2 over the next nine points to take the lead 19-18. A Leah Miller kill tied the score before USF claimed five of the next seven points to take set point at 24-21.
S4 l Hunter crushes a kill on set point and we're heading to a 5th set in San Francisco ... #CSUN takes the 4th set 26-24#GoMatadors pic.twitter.com/13yqRyGhY8
— CSUN Women's Volleyball (@CSUNWVB) September 16, 2023
SET 4: CSUN 26, USF 24
The Matadors then connected at a .304 in the fourth set and hold off a late USF run to force a fifth set. After another Sentes ace opened up a 14-11 Matador lead, a Barron kill gave CSUN its largest cushion at 15-11. A 9-5 run by the Dons tied the score at 20-20 and the teams traded sideouts until 24-24 when consecutive kills by Hunter sealed the 26-24 CSUN win.
SET 5: USF 15, CSUN 12
The Matadors raced out to a 5-1 lead in the final set before the hosts rallied back to knot the score at 9-9. A Barron kill gave CSUN its final lead (10-9) before two straight USF points gave the Dons the lead for good. The Matadors would tie the score at 10-10 and 11-11 but USF claimed four of the final five points.
ACCORDING TO COACH JOHN PRICE
"The fight the team is showing is great. To be short-handed and have a chance to win says a lot about the character of this team. But even being short-handed, we had chances to win both of the last two matches and to not convert on those chances is frustrating. The good thing is we're much improved since the start of the season, now we have to go to Bakersfield on Tuesday night and play well."
NOTES
- CSUN libero Kelsey Knudsen led all players with 26 digs while also adding two aces and a pair of assists.
- Freshman Paige Sentes set a new season-high with four aces and 16 digs.
- Freshman Taylor Dunlap also set a new season-high with 27 assists to go with four digs.
- With the win, San Francisco improves to 6-4 against the Matadors in 10 matches all-time.
UP NEXT
CSUN returns to action next week as the Matadors open the Big West season at Cal State Bakersfield Tuesday at 6 p.m.
#GoMatadors
