California State University at Northridge
UC Davis
CSUN at UC Davis Thursday, Home vs. UC Riverside on Senior Day
11/14/2024 11:17:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
CSUNÂ THIS WEEK:
MATCH #26 (BIG WEST #15)
CSUN Matadors (8-17, 3-11 Big West) @ UC Davis Aggies (15-8, 10-4 Big West)
Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024 - 6:00 p.m. PT
University Credit Union Center - Davis, Calif.
ESPN+Â //Â Live Stats
MATCH #27 (BIG WEST #16)
UC Riverside Highlanders @ CSUN Matadors
Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024 - 2:00 p.m. PT
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
The CSUN women's volleyball team (8-17, 3-11 Big West) travels to UC Davis on Thursday before returning to Northridge for its 2024 home finale against UC Riverside on Saturday at 2 p.m. The Matadors opened a stretch of five road matches over their final six of the regular season last week, falling 3-0 at UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly. CSUN is 2-6 on the road and 4-8 at home this season.
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. Andrew Rector will have the call on Saturday 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 OPPONENTS
UC Davis (15-8, 10-4 Big West) has dropped three of its last four matches after splitting last week at UC Riverside (W, 3-1) and at home against Hawai'i (L, 3-1). At 10-4 in Big West matches, the Aggies remain tied for the conference lead with Cal Poly and Hawai'i. Ally Chandler ranks second in the Big West in hitting percentage at .355 while Olivia Utterback and Jade Light rank fourth and fifth in points per set at 4.06 and 4.02.
Series: Thursday's match is the 42nd meeting all-time between CSUN and UC Davis. Despite losing four straight, the Matadors still lead 22-19 in the all-time series which dates back to 1981. The Aggies held on for a 3-2 win (15-6 in the 5th set) in the first meeting between the two teams this season in Northridge on Oct. 19. CSUN and UC Davis have now split 38 all-time Big West matches with 18 wins apiece.
UC Riverside (9-18, 4-10 Big West) is 2-2 over its last four matches after upsetting Hawai'i in five sets at home last weekend. The Highlanders opened the week with a 3-1 loss to UC Davis before knocking off the Rainbow Wahine for the first time in program history. Libero Jessica Dean took over from the Matadors' Paige Sentes as the Big West digs per set leader at 3.98 last week. The Highlanders and Matadors are tied with UC Irvine for eighth in the conference in team hitting percentage at .199.
Series: Saturday's match is the 88th meeting all-time between the Matadors and Highlanders with CSUN holding a commanding 64-23 lead in the series. The Matadors have won 35 of the 45 Big West matches between the two teams after sweeping the first meeting (25-22, 25-14, 25-22) in Riverside on Oct. 17. The Matadors are 31-6 all-time against UCR at home.
CSUN HONORS CEDERLIND, ROJELIO ON SENIOR DAY
Prior to Saturday's home finale against UC Riverside, CSUN will honor its two seniors on the 2024 roster, Layla Cederlind and Autumn Rojelio.
Cederlind began her Matador career in 2021 and has appeared in 106 matches at CSUN. Over 335 career sets, Cederlind has 311 career digs (0.93 per set), 61 aces (0.18 per set), and 29 assists. She had a season-high 186 digs as a sophomore in 2022 to go with 30 aces which ranked second on the Matadors. Also a standout on the CSUN beach volleyball team, Cederlind has played three seasons (2022-24) on the sand for the Matadors. Rojelio concludes her one and only campaign for the Matadors this season. After transferring from Ventura College, Rojelio is CSUN's leader in aces this season with 29 (0.30 per set) while ranking fourth in digs with 179 (1.83 per set). She has double figure dig totals in eight matches this season, highlighted by a season-high 15-dig performance in the Matadors' 3-2 win at Cal State Fullerton on Oct. 5.
SENTES RANKS SECOND IN BIG WEST DIGS
After leading the Big West in digs per set over the last several weeks, sophomore libero Paige Sentes slipped to second in the Big West in digs per set this week. Sentes, who leads all Big West liberos in total digs with 396 in 100 sets, is averaging 3.96 digs per set this week, just behind UCR's Jessica Dean who is averaging 3.98 with 330 digs in 83 sets. If Sentes can finish the season as the Big West leader in digs per set, she would become the first CSUN player to ever finish the season as the leader in digs. The last Matador to finish the season as a Big West statistical leader was Tela Burnett who led the conference in blocks per set (1.20) in 2009.
CSUN QUICK SETS
Sophomore Hailey Brockway moved into second in the Big West in kills per set this week. With a team-high 31 kills in two matches last week, Brockway is now averaging 3.60 kills per set which leads CSUN and is tied with Cal Poly's Tommi Stockham for second behind Caylen Alexander of Hawai'i (5.35). In addition to Sentes and Brockway, six other CSUN players currently rank in the top 20 in the Big West statistical rankings. Katie Kolar ranks in a pair of categories again this week, third in assists per set (9.93) and 13th in digs per set (2.62). Amaris Smith is sixth in kills per set (3.42) and ninth in points per set. (3.73), Brockway is also sixth in points per set (3.99), Leah Miller ranks 15th in kills per set (2.63) and19th in hitting percentage (.238), Rojelio ranks 13th in aces per set (0.30) while Tatiana Turgeon and Iye Okolo rank 14th and 17th respectively in blocks per set at 0.81 and 0.74. As a team. CSUN ranks as high as fourth in the Big West in assists per set (11.88) and is fifth in both kills per set (12.75) and digs per set (14.28).
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 home finale against UC Riverside, the Matadors will conclude the regular season with road matches at UC San Diego (Nov. 22) and Long Beach State (Nov. 23).
#GoMatadors
