California State University at Northridge
5-9,0-3Big West
UC Irvine
9-5,3-0Big West
CSUN Drops 5-Set Heartbreaker at UC Irvine
10/4/2024 9:10:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
IRVINE, Calif. – Looking for its first Big West win of the season, the CSUN women's volleyball team took a two sets to one lead before the host UC Irvine Anteaters came back to claim the final two sets in 3-2 victory Friday night at Crawford Hall.
Leah Miller and Hailey Brockway each had a match-high 19 kills but the Matadors (5-9, 0-3 Big West) came up just short as the Anteaters (9-5, 3-0 Big West) pulled out a 21-25, 25-20, 24-26, 25-18, 15-13 win.
Miller's 19 kills is a season-high as the junior opposite hit .366 on 41 attacks. Brockway hit .153 on a season-high 59 swings to go with 15 digs for her team-leading seventh double-double of the season. Amaris Smith notched her fourth double-double with 12 kills (.140), 11 digs, and five blocks while setter Katie Kolar picked up CSUN's third double-double on the night with 47 assists and 15 digs.
The host Anteaters would post a slight edge in hitting (.177 to .171) while each team had huge blocking numbers with UCI posting 20 team blocks to the Matadors' season-high 15. Iye Okolo posted a season-high nine blocks to lead CSUN while libero Paige Sentes chipped in 15 digs and three aces in the loss.
S1 l CSUN 25, UCI 21
The Matadors would out-hit the Anteaters .263-.133 in the opening set and would hold off a late UCI run. After trailing by as many as four points (8-4) early on, CSUN used an 11-4 run, capped by an Autumn Rojelio ace, to open up a 15-12 lead. The Matadors led by as many as five (17-12) when UCI rallied back to take a 20-18 lead. But CSUN would engineer a 7-1 run down the stretch as Brockway's fourth kill of the frame gave the Matadors the 25-21 win.
S1 l Brockway gets her swing to fall on set point and the Matadors claim the opening set 25-21#GoMatadors pic.twitter.com/8zwVgEIpT9
— CSUN Women's Volleyball (@csunwomensvb) October 5, 2024
S2 l UCI 25, CSUN 20
Looking to build on the momentum from set one, CSUN slipped into an early 7-2 deficit and played from behind throughout the set. Trailing by as many as seven at 18-11, the Matadors rallied behind a 7-2 run to close to within 20-18 following a Miller kill. But the hosts would outscore the Matadors 5-2 over the final seven points to take a 25-20 win.
S3 l CSUN 26, UCI 24
After overcoming an early 10-5 deficit, the Matadors would use extra points to take a two sets to one lead. Still trailing by five at 18-13, a Smith kill fueled a 9-2 Matador run that opened up a 22-20 CSUN lead capped by a Miller kill. With the score tied at 22-22, a Miller kill and a Tatiana Turgeon block gave the Matadors a pair of set points at 24-22. The hosts saved both before a pair of UCI miscues sent CSUN to the 26-24 win.
S3 l UCI whistled for the ball handling error and #CSUN takes the 3rd set 26-24 … Matadors up 2 sets to 1 as we head to the 4th set in Irvine#GoMatadors pic.twitter.com/yuVAlscBxV
— CSUN Women's Volleyball (@csunwomensvb) October 5, 2024
S4 l UCI 25, CSUN 18
With the score knotted at 9-9, UCI would outscore the Matadors 6-1 over the next seven points to take a 15-10 lead into the media timeout. The Anteaters extended the lead to six at 18-12 before a UCI service error pulled the Matadors back within five at 20-15. A Brockway kill kept the margin at five (22-17) before UCI closed out a 25-18 win.
S5 l UCI 15, CSUN 13
The Anteaters scored the first three points of the final set and still led 6-3 when a 4-0 CSUN run put the Matadors in front. A Smith ace pushed the lead to two (9-7) and CSUN maintained a two-point edge at 12-10 following a Brockway kill. But an ensuing 4-0 run by UCI put the hosts in front to stay and after Miller's 19th kill of the night saved one set point, the Anteaters used a kill to close out the 15-13 win.
NOTES
- CSUN slips to 3-3 in five-set matches this season.
- With the win, the Anteaters extend their current streak over the Matadors to seven straight wins, improving to 36-30 in the all-time series.
UP NEXT
CSUN remains on the road Saturday as the Matadors travel to Cal State Fullerton to meet the Titans at 4 p.m. at Titan Gym.
#GoMatadors
