California State University at Northridge
Loyola Marymount
CSUN Closes Regular Season Against Ranked Teams in Los Angeles
4/19/2024 4:38:00 PM | Beach Volleyball
MATADORS THIS WEEK:
Saturday, Apr. 20, 2024
LMU Beach Courts - Los Angeles, Calif.
CSUN @Â No. 9 Loyola Marymount - 10Â a.m.
CSUN vs. No. 19 Arizona - 12 p.m.
In-game Twitter updates:Â @CSUNBeach
FORÂ STARTERS
The CSUN beach volleyball team (16-16) wraps up the 2024 regular season on Saturday as the Matadors travel to Los Angeles to take on No. 9 Loyola Marymount and No. 19 Arizona at the LMU Beach Courts. CSUN meets LMU at 10 a.m., before closing the day against the Wildcats at noon.
FOLLOW YOUR MATADORS ONLINE
Follow CSUN Matadors beach volleyball online at the official home of CSUN athletics, www.GoMatadors.com. For road matches, related links to the match, including any live stats, audio, and video, will be posted before the match on the beach volleyball schedule page of GoMatadors.com.Â
Fans are also encouraged to check the CSUN Athletics Department's official Twitter feed (@GoMatadors) and the beach volleyball-specific feed (@CSUNBeach) for news and notes throughout the week as well as updates of matches in progress.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
No. 9 Loyola Marymount (22-13) has dropped three straight, all to ranked teams since defeating No. 4 Florida State on Apr. 13. The Lions have since dropped consecutive 3-2 decisions to No. 7 Long Beach State, No. 2 USC and No. 1 UCLA. LMU is 7-1 on its home sand this season, the only loss coming to No. 8 Cal on Mar. 2.
CSUN-LMU Series History: Saturday's opener is the 14th meeting all-time between the Matadors and Lions and first since 2022. LMU has won 12 of the previous 13 dual matches with CSUN's lone win coming in 2016 when the Matadors won 3-2 in Northridge.
No. 19 Arizona (19-9) upset No. 13 Arizona State in its final home match of the season. Arizona also caps the regular season this week will hit at the LMU Tri-Dual against Loyola Marymount and CSUN.Â
CSUN-UA Series: Saturday's match is just the third meeting all-time between CSUN and Arizona and the first since 2016. The Sand Cats won 5-0 in Arizona in both 2015 and 2016.
MATADOR QUICK SETS
With 16 wins this season, and two regular season matches remaining before the Big West Championship, CSUN will have an opportunity to eclipse the single-season wins record of 17 set by the 2023, 2022, and 2018 Matador teams ... CSUN finished the 2024 home season with an 8-4 record, posting a .500 or better on its home sand for the seventh consecutive season. The 2017 team was the last CSUN team to finish under .500 at home, posting a 4-5 record in nine home duals. Since then, the Matadors 62-29 on their home sand, posting double figures in wins in 2023 (10), 2022 (13), 2021 (10), and 2018 (10) ... With 15 wins this season, senior Lauren Eknoian is in second place in program history with 57 career wins. With 10 wins this season, Sweeting in alone in third place on the all-time wins list with 56. Mikaela Maughan is the CSUN all-time wins leader, winning 67 times from 2019-23.
CSUN DROPS 3-2 DECISION AT CAL STATE BAKERSFIELD TO CAP FIVE-MATCH WEEK
For the fourth time in five dual matches between CSUN and Cal State Bakersfield this season, the final score was decided by one pair as the host Roadrunners claimed a 3-2 win Friday morning at Barnes Beach Volleyball Complex. The Matadors (16-16) picked up wins in the No. 1 and No. 3 pairs but Bakersfield won the remaining three to earn its second win in five matches against CSUN this season. CSUN opened the week on Tuesday (Apr. 9), dropping a pair of 5-0 decisions to No. 1 UCLA and No. 9 Long Beach State before sweeping a pair of 5-0 dual matches against Cal State LA on Senior Day (Apr. 10).
CSUN BEACH VOLLEYBALL HISTORY
The Matadors are 116-128 (.475) all-time in 10 seasons of beach volleyball, including a 71-39 (.645) record on their home sand. After setting a program record for most wins in one season with 17 in 2018, the Matadors matched that win total with a 17-17 overall record in 2022 and a 17-16 record in 2023. CSUN also came within one victory of equaling the mark with a 16-12 record in 2019.
The Matadors have steadily improved since the induction of the sport in 2014. Playing 10 matches, all on the road in its inaugural season, CSUN finished 1-9 in 2014. The Matadors picked up their first-ever beach volleyball win on Mar. 27, 2014 when CSUN defeated Oregon (3-2) at USC's Merle Norman Stadium.
The Matadors then debuted their on-campus facility in 2015, playing 11 matches overall and four matches at home. CSUN's first-ever home match was Mar. 5, 2015 against No. 7 UCLA. CSUN won at home for the first time on Mar. 9 of the 2015 season when the Matadors defeated TCU, 4-1. CSUN ultimately upped its season win total to three culminating with a 3-8 overall season record to close the 2015 season.
The 2016 season saw the Matadors finish 8-14 before falling to Cal Poly in the third round of the Big West Tournament. CSUN then posted an overall record of 6-12 in 2017 before winning a program-record with 17 times in 2018. After posting 16 wins in 2019, the 2020 season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic with the Matadors off to a 4-1 start. CSUN won 11 times in 2021, finishing with an overall record of 11-15.
BIG WEST BEACH VOLLEYBALL
The 2024 season not only marks CSUN's 11th season of beach volleyball but its ninth season as a member of the Big West. The Matadors are 7-14 all-time in the Big West Championship since the inaugural championship in 2016. The postseason tournament was not held in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
At the 2023 Big West Championship, held at Queen's Beach in Hawai'i, the Matadors finished in fifth place after winning one of three matches. CSUN, seeded sixth, opened with a 3-2 loss to UC Davis before staving off elimination with a 3-2 win over Sacramento State. The Matadors then fell to Cal Poly (3-2) in an elimination match and finished the championship with a 1-2 record.
CSUN also finished fifth at both the 2021 and 2022 Big West Championships. At Cal Poly's Swanson Beach Volleyball Complex in 2022, the Matadors opened with a 5-0 loss to Cal Poly before staving off elimination with a 4-1 win over Sacramento State. CSUN then fell to UC Davis in an elimination match and finished the championship with a 1-2 record. At Rosie's Dog Beach in 2021, the championship finished in a similar formula for the Matadors. CSUN opened with a 5-0 loss to Hawai'i before sweeping Sacramento State, 5-0. The Matadors were then eliminated by CSU Bakersfield in a close 3-2 final.
The Matadors were the No. 4 seed in the seven-team field at the 2019 Big West Tournament at Zuma Beach in Malibu. CSUN finished 2-2 in the championship tournament, their best showing since also finishing 2-2 in the inaugural conference tournament in 2016. After winning two of three matches on the opening day, CSUN came up empty against No. 3 seed Long Beach State on Saturday and was the fourth squad eliminated from the tournament. Cal Poly, the No. 2 seed, went undefeated in four tournament matches to capture its first conference championship along with the Big West's automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament. Hawai'i, the top seed coming in, finished second.
At the 2018 championship in Hawai'i, the Matadors were seeded fourth in the six-team field in but were upset by fifth-seeded CSU Bakersfield in the opening round (3-2). CSUN then fell to No. 2 seed Cal Poly in an elimination match (5-0).Â
The Matadors were also seeded fourth at the 2017 Big West Tournament held at Pismo Beach, but fell to Sacramento State (3-2) and Cal Poly (5-0) in their two tournament matches.Â
In 2016, CSUN was the third seed in the inaugural conference tournament before finishing 2-2 including a close 3-2 loss to Cal Poly in a third-round elimination match at Huntington Beach.
#GoMatadors
