California State University at Northridge
Long Beach State
CSUN Travels to UCLA Before Hosting Cal State LA on Senior Day
4/8/2024 12:41:00 PM | Beach Volleyball
MATADORS THIS WEEK:
Tuesday, Apr. 9, 2024
Mapes Beach - Los Angeles, Calif.
CSUN vs. No. 9 Long Beach State - 1 p.m. Live Results
CSUN @ No. 1 UCLA - 3 p.m. Live Results
Wednesday, Apr. 10, 2024
CSUN Beach Volleyball Complex - Northridge, Calif.
Cal State LA @Â CSUN -Â 1Â p.m.
Cal State LA @Â CSUNÂ - 3Â p.m.
Friday, Apr. 12, 2024
Barnes Beach Volleyball Complex - Bakersfield, Calif.
CSUN @ Cal State Bakersfield -Â 10 a.m.
In-game Twitter updates:Â @CSUNBeach
FORÂ STARTERS
The CSUN beach volleyball team (14-13) begins the homestretch of the 2024 regular season this week, as the Matadors will play three road duals around a Wednesday doubleheader against Cal State LA.Â
CSUN opens the week on Tuesday at UCLA's Mapes Beach, taking on No. 9 Long Beach State at 1 p.m. and the top-ranked Bruins at 3 p.m. The Matadors return home on Wednesday to host Cal State LA in a pair of matches before closing the week with a single dual at Cal State Bakersfield Friday at 10 a.m.
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 Long Beach State (20-4) opens a five-match week in Los Angeles on Tuesday. The Beach take on UCLA and CSUN at Mapes Beach before traveling to San Luis Obispo this weekend to face TCU, USC, and Pepperdine at the Center of Effort Challenge. Long Beach is coming off a 3-2 win over No. 6 Cal Poly during the Best in the West tournament in Laguna Beach.
CSUN-LBSU Series History: Tuesday's match is the 21st meeting all-time between the Matadors and Beach. The Matadors and Beach have met twice this season with Long Beach winning 5-0 on Mar. 16 and Mar. 23. CSUN has yet to beat Long Beach in 20 matches dating back to 2014. CSUN lost 4-1 in 2014, 2016, 2019, and 2021 and dropped 5-0 decisions in the other 16 matches.
No. 1 UCLA (22-4) hosts No. 9 Long Beach State and CSUN on Tuesday after finishing 3-0 at the Pac-12 North Invitational in Seattle last weekend. UCLA opened the tournament with a 4-1 win over No. 7 California and then posted a 5-0 sweep of Utah. Day two saw the Bruins post another 4-1 win over No. 18 Arizona. UCLA's No. 5 pair of Ensley Alden and Natalie Myszkowski were named AVCA/CBVB Collegiate Beach Pair of the Week last week after finishing 4-0 against four nationally-ranked teams at the Death Volley Invitational in Baton Rouge, La.
CSUN-UCLA Series: Tuesday's match is the fifth meeting all-time between CSUN and UCLA and the first since 2016. The Bruins won 3-2 in the first meeting in 2014, before winning 4-1 in 2015 and 5-0 in both matches in 2016.
Cal State LA (2-6) snapped a six-match losing streak with a 3-2 win over Westcliff on Mar. 15. The Golden Eagles then made it two straight wins with a 3-2 win at The Master's University on Mar. 23.
CSUN-CSULA Series: The Matadors and Eagles have met 13 times dating back to 2017 with CSUN holding a 13-0 lead in the all-time series. The Matadors defeated the Golden Eagles, 5-0 in Northridge on Mar. 13.
Cal State Bakersfield (13-16) hosts the Matadors on Friday after dropping two of three matches last weekend at the Waves Tourney in Malibu. The 'Runners fell 4-1 to host Pepperdine before defeating Southeastern Louisiana, 3-2 and dropping a 3-2 decision to Concordia Irvine. CSUB is 5-4 in nine home dual matches this season.
CSUN-CSUB Series: Friday's match is the fifth this season and 31st all-time between CSUN and Bakersfield. After opening the 2024 season 13-13 all-time against CSUB, the Matadors are now 16-14 in 30 matches against the Roadrunners dating back to 2014.
MATADOR QUICK SETS
CSUN will honor its lone senior - Taylor Buckley - prior to Wednesday's second dual match against Cal State LA at noon. The Matadors also have a trio of seniors (Lauren Eknoian, Gabriela Griego, Abbey Sweeting) on the 2024 roster who were honored in senior ceremonies in 2023. Buckley has won nine times this season, posting a 6-9 record with Abbey Sweeting, 3-1 with Jillian Rodig, and 0-2 with Haley Coggins ... With 14 wins this season, senior Lauren Eknoian is in second place in program history with 56 career wins. Eknoian has a career record of 56-65 dating back to the 2020 season, posting 14 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, Sweeting in alone in third place on the all-time wins list with an all-time record of 54-53. 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 15 wins this season (along with partner MayaMay Brown), Gabriela Griego now has 36 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 14 wins this season, and seven 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 ... With two home matches remaining on Wednesday, CSUN will finish .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 60-29 on their home sand, posting double figures in wins in 2023 (10), 2022 (13), 2021 (10), and 2018 (10).Â
CSUN SPLITS MIDWEEK DOUBLEHEADER VS. SOUTHEASTERN LOUISISANA
For the fourth time in five midweek home duals, the CSUN beach volleyball team split the day as visiting Southeastern Louisiana came back after dropping the opener (3-2) to defeat the Matadors 4-1 in the second match Wednesday at the CSUN Beach Volleyball Complex.
CSUN 3, SLUÂ 2
The opening dual would come down to the final pair as CSUN would ultimately win for the 14th time this season. The Lions claimed the first two points in the opening flight as Alexis Logarbo and Maddie Shepston topped Lauren Eknoian and Tasha Mae, 21-19, 24-22 in the No. 2 pair before Makayla Hicks and Mia Sauers put SLU up 2-0 with a three-set comeback over Abbey Sweeting and Maleya Miles in the No. 4 pair, 17-21, 21-18, 16-14. The exhibition (No. 6) match ended the flight as the Matadors' Taylor Buckley and Jillian Rodig defeated Jackie McGee and Lauren Schlotzhauer by the score of 21-18, 21-13.
Needing to win all three pairs in the second flight, the Matadors got off to a good start as Haley Coggins and Sophia Jaroszimproved to 5-1 on the season with a 17-21, 21-10, 16-14 win over Carley Petty and Zoe Duggan in the No. 5 match. CSUN then pulled even in the dual when Kinley Lindhardt and Julia Bazylevych swept Mia McKinney and Ysabella Lockwood in the No. 3 pair, 21-17, 22-20. The attention would turn to center court as the No. 1 pair went to three sets before Gabriela Griego and MayaMay Brown pulled out a 26-24, 18-21, 15-10 win over Rachel Hartmann and Andrea Da Silva to clinch the win.Â
SLU 4, CSUN 1
In the afternoon dual, the two teams split the two points in the first flight as Eknoian and Mae bounced back to sweep Logarbo and Shepston in the No. 2 match, 21-13, 21-12. The win was the 56th career individual win for Eknoian, second-most in program history. SLU's Hicks and Sauers then went three close sets for the second time on the day to top Sweeting and Miles in the No. 4 pair, 17-21, 21-18, 15-12 to even the match. Buckley and Rodig closed the flight by winning for the second time over SLU in the exhibition match, defeating Taylor Stockwell and Sydney Mitchell in straight sets, 21-9, 21-12.
Hartmann and Da Silva put the Lions up 2-1 when SLU's No. 1 pair defeated Griego and Brown, 21-17, 22-20 before Erin Engel and Emmaleigh Vincent pulled out a lengthy three-set win over Coggins and Jarosz in the No. 5 pair (12-21, 24-22, 16-14) to clinch the win. The final pair also went to the Lions as McKinney and Lockwood won in straight sets over Lindhardt and Bazylevych, 21-15, 21-15 at No. 3.
CSUN BEACH VOLLEYBALL HISTORY
The Matadors are 114-125 (.477) all-time in 10 seasons of beach volleyball, including a 69-39 (.639) 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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