California State University Northridge Athletics
California State University at Northridge
Long Beach State
CSUN Hosts Long Beach State, UCSD in Key Big West Matches
10/10/2024 9:34:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
CSUNÂ THIS WEEK:
MATCH #16 (BIG WEST #5)
Long Beach State (9-5, 3-1) @ CSUN Matadors (6-9, 1-3)
Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024 - 6:00 p.m. PDT
Premier America Credit Union Arena - Northridge, Calif.
ESPN+Â //Â Live Stats
MATCH #17 (BIG WEST #6)
UC San Diego Tritons @ CSUN Matadors
Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024 - 5:00 p.m. PDT
Premier America Credit Union Arena - Northridge, Calif.
ESPN+Â //Â Live Stats
In-game X updates:Â @CSUNWVB
CSUN WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL MEDIA NOTES
FORÂ STARTERS
After splitting a pair of Big West road matches last week, the CSUN women's volleyball team (6-9, 1-3 Big West) returns home to open a two-match homestand Thursday against Long Beach State (9-5, 3-1 Big West). The Matadors will cap the week with a Saturday match against UC San Diego (7-8, 1-3 Big West) at 4 p.m. CSUN played a pair of five-set matches last week, topping Cal State Fullerton on Saturday for its first Big West win.
FOLLOW YOUR MATADORS
Both matches this week will stream live on ESPN+ with live stats also available at GoMatadors.com. Fans can follow CSUN Matador women's volleyball online at the official home of CSUN athletics, www.GoMatadors.com. Darren Preston handles the play-by-play on E+ with CSUN men's volleyball assistant coach Ryan Mason providing commentary for select matches. Fans are also encouraged to check the CSUN Athletics Department's official X 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
Long Beach State (9-5, 3-1 Big West) has won five of its last six matches heading to CSUN on Thursday. The Beach State extended its season-best winning streak to five with a 3-0 win over UC San Diego last Thursday before falling to Hawai'i in straight sets. The Beach's Kameron Bacon ranks second in the Big West in blocks at 1.10 per set while Ella Lomigora ranks third in hitting percentage at .347.
Series: Thursday's match is the 52nd meeting all-time between CSUN and Long Beach State with the Beach holding a 38-13 lead in the series. The Matadors snapped a nine- match Beach winning streak with a 3-2 win in Northridge on Oct. 7 before falling in straight sets in Long Beach. CSUN improved to 9-16 all-time against Long Beach State at home. The Matadors are 4-22 in 26 matches all-time in Long Beach.
UC San Diego (7-8, 1-3 Big West) opens the week at Cal State Bakersfield on Friday before heading to Northridge on Saturday. The Tritons dropped both matches on their Big West home-opening weekend, falling to Long Beach State, 3-0, and dropping a 3-2 decision to Hawai'i. Ava McInnes moved into second all-time in kills for UC San Diego on Friday with 1,376. She is now 148 kills away from the all-time record for the Tritons.
Series: Saturday's match is the 17th meeting all-time between the Matadors and Tritons with CSUN holding a 10-6 lead in the all-time series. UC San Diego claimed both matches between the two teams last season and has now won six straight (all Big West matches) in the series. The Matadors are 2-3 all-time against the Tritons in Northridge.
MATADOR MIDDLES REACH 100 CAREER BLOCKSÂ
Redshirt sophomore middle blockers Iye Okolo and Tatiana Turgeon both reached the 100 career blocks milestone last week. Okolo had a team-high 13 blocks, including a season-best nine stuffs at UC Irvine, to reach 100 for her career. Okolo had 53 blocks (11 solo, 47 assists)as a redshirt freshman in 2023 and has 47 blocks (3 solo, 44 assists) this season. Turgeon, who came into last week needing one block to reach 100 blocks in her CSUN career, had 10 total blocks (five in each match) to mover her career total to 109 (9 solo, 100 assists).
KOLAR RANKS NINTH NATIONALLY IN ASSISTS
Sophomore Katie Kolar continues to rank among the top setters in the Big West while moving into the top-10 in the nation. Kolar, who leads CSUN and the Big West with 642 total assists, ranks second only to Cal Poly's Emme Bullis (10.49) in assists per set among conference setters. Kolar comes into the week averaging 10.19 assists per set, Lauren Yacobucci of Wright State is the national leader at 11.66 assists per set. With 642 assists in 15 matches, Kolar ranks ninth in the NCAA in total assists. Callie Bauer of Western Kentucky is the national leader in total assists with 686.
CSUN RANKS IN THE BIG WEST
Three Matadors rank as high as second in the Big West this week. In addition to Kolar ranking second in assists, sophomore libero Paige Sentes slipped from the conference lead into second in digs this week, averaging 4.16 digs per set. Amaris Smith continues to ranks second in the conference in kills per set (3.64) and is sixth in points per set (3.96). Hailey Brockway remains fifth this week in kills at 3.50 per set followed by Leah Miller who ranks 17th at 2.67 kills per set. Also for the Matadors, Autumn Rojelio improved to 13th in aces (0.31), and Turgeon and Okolo rank ninth (0.87) and 16th (0.76) in blocks respectively. As a team. CSUN ranks second in the Big West in assists per set (12.10) and digs (15.13) and also ranks third in kills (12.89).
MATADOR QUICK SETS
The Matadors have posted a team advantage in digs in 10 of their first 15 matches of the season. For the season, CSUN has 952 team digs to 936 for its opponents ... Saturday's 3-2 win at Cal State Fullerton not only marked the Matadors' first Big West win of the season but was also CSUN's first true road victory of the season. The Matadors picked up neutral site wins over San Diego State (Pocatello, Idaho) and San Francisco (Sacramento) earlier this season but had dropped their only previous road matches at Idaho State and Sacramento State ... CSUN is 1-1 in two October matches after finishing 5-8 in the previous two months of the season (4-7 in September, and 1-1 in August).
MONTOYA IN HIS FIRST SEASON AS CSUN HEAD COACHÂ
Aquiles Montoya was named the ninth head coach of the CSUN women's volleyball program on Apr. 10, 2024. Montoya comes to CSUN after spending the past four seasons as associate head coach and director of recruiting at Portland State. He was instrumental in three straight Vikings' student-athletes earning the Big Sky Conference's Top Newcomer award. On the court, Portland State made consecutive postseason appearances in 2021 and 2022, qualifying for the National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC). The Vikings won their first-round match in 2021, giving Portland State its first win at a national postseason tournament in Division I program history. The Vikings rise in the Big Sky Conference coincided with Montoya's tenure as an assistant and associate head coach under Portland State head coach Michael Seeman. The Vikings posted winning seasons, both overall and in conference play, in each of Montoya's last three seasons while reaching the Big Sky championship match in 2022, their first appearance since 2013. Prior to Portland State, Montoya spent the previous three seasons as the lead assistant of the Pacific Boxers' varsity team. He helped the Boxers set program records for wins in back-to-back seasons in 2017 and 2018. The Boxers went 17-7 overall and 10-6 in the NCAA Division III Northwest Conference (NWC) in 2017, then topped that the following year while going 18-8 overall and 11-5 in NWC play.
LOOKING AHEAD
Following Saturday's match against UC San Diego, the Matadors will have their first home-and-away week of the season as the schedule has CSUN traveling to UC Riverside on Oct. 17 before returning home to face UC Davis on Oct. 19.
#GoMatadors
