California State University at Northridge
Southeastern Louisiana
Beach Volleyball Hosts Southeastern Louisiana in Wednesday Doubleheader
4/2/2024 2:28:00 PM | Beach Volleyball
MATADORS THIS WEEK:
Wednesday, Apr. 3, 2024
CSUN Beach Volleyball Complex - Northridge, Calif.
Southeastern Louisiana @ CSUN - 10 a.m.
Southeastern Louisiana @ CSUNÂ - 12 p.m.
In-game Twitter updates:Â @CSUNBeach
FORÂ STARTERS
The CSUN beach volleyball team (13-12) will host Southeastern Louisiana for the first time, taking on the Lady Lions twice on Wednesday at 10 a.m. and 12 p.m. The Matadors, 5-3 on their home sand this season, split one tri-dual at home last week, falling to Tulane (3-2) before defeating Cal State Bakersfield (3-2) for the third time in four tries this season. After Wednesday, CSUN will have one final home contest remaining, hosting Cal State LA for a pair of dual matches on Wednesday, Apr. 10.
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 OPPONENT
Southeastern Louisiana (9-10) opens a six-match week on Wednesday in Northridge. The Lady Lions are coming off a 4-1 win over Nicholls 4-1 to close out the SLC Mid-Season Invitational in New Orleans, Louisiana. Southeastern ended the weekend with a split 3-3 record in the tournament as Texas A&M-Corpus Christi secured the conference regular season title. SLU will travel to the coast on Friday to face Pepperdine, UC Davis, Cal State Bakersfield, and Concordia Irvine in the Waves Tournament in Malibu.
Series: Wednesday's matches will be the first-ever meeting between CSUN and Southeastern Louisiana in beach volleyball.
MATADOR QUICK SETS
A pair of Matadors have moved into the CSUN top 10 in career individual wins this season. With 13 wins this season, senior Lauren Eknoian has moved into second place with 55 career wins. Eknoian has a career record of 55-64 dating back to the 2020 season, posting 13 wins this season, 17 wins in 2023, 14 in 2022, seven in 2021, and four during the COVID-shortened 2020 season. With eight wins this season, fellow senior Abbey Sweeting has moved into third place, just behind Eknoian with an all-time record of 54-51. Mikaela Maughan is the CSUN all-time wins leader, winning 67 times from 2019-23. Sweeting finished a team-best 21-12 in 2023, which followed season records of 15-16 in 2022, 8-9 in 2021, and 2-0 in 2020. Sweeting's winning percentage of .514 ranks just outside of the career top 10, Maughan currently holds the No. 10 spot with a career winning percentage of .532 ... With a team-high 14 wins this season (along with partner MayaMay Brown), Gabriela Griego now has 35 wins as she closes in on the end of her second season. Along with Sweeting, Griego won 21 times in 2023, setting a program single-season record in the process ... With 13 wins this season, and nine 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.Â
CSUNÂ SPLITS MID-WEEK TRI-DUAL VS. TULANE, CAL STATE BAKERSFIELD
After battling Tulane in a 3-2 loss to open the day, the CSUN beach volleyball team battled back to defeat Cal State Bakersfield by the same 3-2 score to split a Wednesday tri-dual at the CSUN Beach Volleyball Complex. The Matadors (13-12) had a chance against the Green Wave, who are receiving votes in this week's AVCA National Beach poll, but fell in the 3, 4 and 5 pairs to drop the 3-2 decision.
TULANE 3, CSUN 2
The dual match was even at one win apiece after the opening flight. Lauren Eknoian and Tasha Mae won in straight sets in the No. 2 pair over Trinity Jackson and Savka Popovic after Tulane's Samantha Green and Skylar Ensign opened the scoring by topping Layla Cederlind and Maleya Miles in the No. 4 pair, 21-11, 21-18. CSUN also won the No. 6 exhibition match as Taylor Buckley and Jillian Rodig won in straight sets over Tara Gaspar and Lauren Mann, 21-16, 21-10 Laura Torruella and Sam O'Connor made it 2-1 Tulane with a three-set victory over Kinley Lindhardt and Julia Bazylevych at No. 3 before CSUN evened the match again when Gabriela Griego and MayaMay Brown swept Sara Hall and Molly Trodd in the No. 1 pair, 21-17, 27-25. The final would come in the No. 5 pair which also went three sets as the Green Wave's McKenzie Cutler and Amelia Mullem held off CSUN's Abbey Sweeting and Sophia Jarosz, 22-20, 18-21, 15-9.Â
CSUN 3, CAL STATE BAKERSFIELDÂ 2
After Tulane defeated the Roadrunners 4-1 in the middle dual, the Matadors picked up their third win in four tries against Bakersfield this season. For the second time in as many matches, the teams were tied 1-1 after the opening flight. Sweeting paired with Miles against CSUB and earned the first CSUN point with an 18-21, 21-17, 15-12 comeback win over Megan Gilbert and Olivia Silacci-Jensen in the 4's. The visitors would pull even with a three-set win of their own when Ella Erteltova and Vivi Kaelin won the final two sets over Eknoian and Mae to take an 18-21, 21-17, 15-12 victory at No. 2. The Matadors would also pick up their second exhibition win of the day when Haley Coggins and Jadin Williams teamed up for a 21-16, 21-15 win over CSUB's Sarah Martin and Alyson Cooper. Bakersfield opened the second flight with a win as Pearl Moore and Ava Palm swept Rodig and Buckley in the 5's by the score of 22-20, 21-18. Lindhardt and Bazylevych would then keep CSUN alive with a straight-set win in the No. 3 pair, defeating Ella Ensign and Kaia Fanshier, 21-19, 21-17. The Matadors would clinch their 13th win of the season - and third against CSUN in 2024 - when Griego and Brown swept Isabella Almeida and Katey Milne on center court by the score of 21-13, 21-19 to clinch the dual.
CSUN BEACH VOLLEYBALL HISTORY
The Matadors are 113-124 (.477) all-time in 10 seasons of beach volleyball, including a 68-38 (.642) 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.
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