California State University at Northridge
Cal State Bakersfield
CSUN Opens Big West Season Tuesday at Cal State Bakersfield
9/19/2023 12:23:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
CSUNÂ THIS WEEK:
MATCH #12 (BIG WEST #1)
CSUN Matadors (2-9, 0-0) at Cal State Bakersfield (4-8, 0-0)
Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2023Â - 6 0.m. PDT
Icardo Center - Bakersfield, Calif.
Live Stats // Watch
MATCH #13 (BIG WEST #2)
CSUN Matadors at Hawai'i Rainbow Wahine
Sunday, Sept. 24, 2023Â - 8Â p.m. PDT
SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center - Honolulu, Hawai'i
Live Stats // Watch
In-game Twitter updates:Â @CSUNWVB
FORÂ STARTERS
The CSUN women's volleyball team (2-9, 0-0 Big West) opens its 21st season of Big West women's volleyball on Tuesday as the Matadors travel to Cal State Bakersfield to meet the Roadrunners at 6 p.m. CSUN concludes the week with a rare Sunday match in Hawai'i against the Rainbow Wahine at 8 p.m. PDT.
The Matadors wrapped up the non-conference schedule last weekend, finishing 1-2 at the USF Challenge in San Francisco. CSUN snapped a four-match skid with a straight-set win over UTRGV in the opener before falling to San José State (3-0) and San Francisco (3-2) to cap the weekend.
FOLLOW YOUR MATADORS
Follow CSUN Matador women's volleyball online at the official home of CSUN athletics, www.GoMatadors.com. All home matches will be streamed live on ESPN+ with Darren Preston handling the play-by-play and CSUN men's volleyball assistant coach Ryan Mason providing commentary for select matches. All matches will also feature live stats at 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 women's volleyball schedule page of GoMatadors.com. Fans are also encouraged to check the CSUN Athletics Department's official Twitter feed (@GoMatadors) and the volleyball-specific feed (@CSUNWVB) for news and notes throughout the week as well as updates of matches in progress.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
Cal State Bakersfield (4-8, 0-0 Big West) has dropped four straight matches since defeating Saint Mary's (3-1) in Santa Clara on Sept. 9. Last weekend, the Runners were swept by Sacramento State and Pacific before falling to Fresno State in five sets. Grace Moss posted a team-high 22 digs against Fresno State while Breklyn Pulling was named to the Central Cal Challenge All-Tournament Team. Bakersfield .156 as a team though 12 matches.
Series: Tuesday's match is the 44th meeting all-time between the Matadors and Runners with CSUN holding a 33-10 lead in the all-time series. The two teams split the series last season with each team winning on their home court.
Hawai'i (7-3, 0-0 Big West) closed out its non-conference schedule and the Fight in the Fort tournament with a sweep over Florida State on Saturday in Fort Worth, Texas. Sophomore Caylen Alexander led UH with a match-high 15 kills to go with 13 digs for her fifth-consecutive double-double. She tied her career-high with four total blocks with a career-high three block solos. The Rainbow Wahine is hitting .212 as a team which ranks third in the Big West.
Series: Sunday's match is the 31st meeting all-time between CSUN and Hawai'i with the Rainbow Wahine holding a commanding 28-2 lead in the series. Hawai'i, winners of 15 straight in the series, won in straight sets in Honolulu and four sets in Northridge last season.
BARRON ADDS TWO MORE DOUBLE-DOUBLES
After posting her first triple-double of the season at Fresno State on Sept. 1, junior Carisa Barron added her fourth and fifth double-doubles of the season this past weekend in San Francisco. Barron opened the weekend with 14 assists and 12 kills in the Matadors' 3-0 win over UTRGV before completing her fifth of the season with 25 assists and 14 digs against the host Dons. Barron, who now has 13 career double-doubles, has also doubled up this season against California Baptist (26 assists-13 digs), Eastern Washington (13 kills-11 assists) and Portland (24 assists-11 digs).
HUNTER MOVES UP TO TOP-THREE IN BIG WEST IN HITTING, BLOCKING
After an impressive weekend in Portland (Sept. 8-9), redshirt junior Taylor Hunter continued her torrid hitting stretch last weekend in San Francisco. In the three matches at USF, Hunter hit over .400 with 28 kills and just seven errors on 52 swings. Hunter, who has hit .400 or better twice this season, hit .538 in the win over UTRGV before hitting .294 against San José State and .409 against San Francisco. This week, she moved up to third in the Big West in hitting percentage at .323, which trails only Hawai'i's Amber Igiede (.401) and UC Riverside's Anya Green (.335). With 15.0 blocks last weekend, Hunter has also moved into second among Big West players in blocking, averaging 1.34 per set. Hunter leads the Big West in total blocks with 63, including 11 solo.
ORSHOFF CONTINUES PURSUIT OF 1,000 CAREER KILLS
Taylor Orshoff had three kills against UTRGV before being sidelined with an injury the remainder of the weekend in San Francisco. Orshoff, who opened the season with 786 career kills, has added 86 kills to her CSUN total this season and now needs 128 kills to become the 15th player in program history to reach 1,000 career kills. After putting down 170 kills as a freshman in 2019, Orshoff had a team-high 314 kills in 2021 before posting 302 kills last season. Orshoff also posted a career first in the opening weekend of the 2023 season, recording the first two double-doubles of her career. She had identical 13 kill-11 dig performances against both San Jose State and California Baptist (Aug 25-26) which surpassed her previous career-high in digs which was eight against UC San Diego in 2021. Orshoff has now reached double figures in kills five times this season and 41 times in her CSUN career.
MATADOR QUICK SETS
Libero Kelsey Knudsen added 48 digs in three matches last weekend and now has a team-leading 204 digs this season. Knudsen is averaging 4.34 digs per set which ranks third in the Big West. At 4.34 digs per set, Knudsen would post the highest digs per set average since Cindy Ortiz averaged 4.75 in 2012 ... Paige Sentes served six aces in three matches in San Francisco and took over the team lead with 15 aces this season ... Sophia Jarosz had the first 13 kills of her CSUN career in three matches last weekend including a season-high 11 against San Francisco. Jarosz started in place of Orshoff against San José State and San Francisco ... Tuesday's match will be a homecoming of sorts for three CSUN players (Perri Starkey, Barron, Sentes) who are all originally from Bakersfield.
LOOKING AHEAD
After opening the Big West season in Bakersfield and Hawai'i this week, CSUN returns home for the first time since Aug. 30 to host UC Riverside on Sept. 29 to open a season-long, four-match homestand. The Matadors will also take on UC Davis (Sept. 30), UC San Diego (Oct. 6) and Long Beach State (Oct. 7) on the homestand.
#GoMatadors
