California State University at Northridge
California Baptist
CSUN Hosts CBU on Tuesday to Open Six-Match Homestand
9/17/2024 12:15:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
CSUNÂ THIS WEEK:
MATCH #8
California Baptist Lancers (0-9) @Â CSUN Matadors (2-5)
Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024 - 6:00 p.m. PDT
Premier America Credit Union Arena - Northridge, Calif.
ESPN+ //Â Live Stats
MATCH #9
Washington State Cougars (4-3) @Â CSUN Matadors
Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024 - 6:00 p.m. PDT
Premier America Credit Union Arena - Northridge, Calif.
ESPN+ //Â Live Stats
MATCH #10
Portland Pilots (7-1) @Â CSUN Matadors
Friday, Sept. 20, 2024 - 6:00 p.m. PDT
Premier America Credit Union Arena - Northridge, Calif.
ESPN+ //Â Live Stats
MATCH #11
Portland Pilots @Â CSUN Matadors
Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024 - 6:00 p.m. PDT
Premier America Credit Union Arena - Northridge, Calif.
ESPN+ //Â Live Stats
In-game X updates:Â @CSUNWVB
CSUN WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL MEDIA NOTES
FORÂ STARTERS
The CSUN women's volleyball team (2-5, 0-0 Big West) opens the 2024 home season on Tuesday as the Matadors welcome California Baptist (0-9) to Premier America Credit Union Arena at 6 p.m. Including the CBU match, CSUN will play a total of four home matches this week as Washington State and Portland also come to the Valley. The Matadors played just a single match last week, falling in straight sets to Nevada at the CBU/UCR Challenge in Riverside.
FOLLOW YOUR MATADORS
Tuesday's match against California Baptist and the two-match set with Portland will stream live on ESPN+ while all four matches will have live stats. Fans can follow CSUN Matador women's volleyball online at the official home of CSUN athletics, www.GoMatadors.com. Darren Preston handles the play-by-play 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 OPPOSITION
California Baptist (0-9) dropped all three matches at its own CBU/UCR Challenge last weekend, falling to UC Riverside (3-1), Nevada (3-1), and San Diego State (3-0), The Lancers are now 0-3 at home, 0-2 on the road, and 0-4 in neutral site matches this season. Libero Mia Jerue had a season-high 21 digs and four aces against Nevada while Eliana Posada leads CBU in kills, averaging 2.62 kills per set.
Series: Tuesday's match is the just second meeting all-time between CSUN and CBU with the Lancers leading 1-0 after defeating the Matadors in four sets in San Jose last season.
Washington State (4-3) travels to Northridge and Long Beach State this week. The Cougars went 2-1 last week with a pair of five-set wins over Eastern Washington and UC Davis around a 3-1 loss to Washington. Washington State, which has now won four of its last five matches, came back from a 2-1 deficit to defeat UC Davis as Katy Ryan had 17 kills and four blocks while Sage Brustad tallied 13 kills and a pair of blocks.
Series: Thursday's match is the fourth meeting all-time between CSUN and Washington State with the Cougars holding a 3-0 lead in the series. The two teams last met in 2009 in Pullman with Washington State winning in straight sets.
Portland (7-1) has won seven of its first eight to open the season after posting a 3-0 victory over Seattle U last Saturday. At 7-1, the Pilots are off to their best start since 2018 and their second best start ever in program history. Against Seattle, Maui Robins, had 17 kills on .389 hitting to lead Portland.
Series: Friday's match is the eighth meeting all-time between CSUN and Portland with the Pilots claiming four of the previous seven matches. Portland has won four straight in the series including a 3-2 win at the Portland Invitational in 2023.
HOME OPENER ON TUESDAYÂ
CSUN's match against California Baptist on Tuesday not only marks the Matadors' 2024 home opener but also the beginning of a season-long, six-match homestand. In addition to the CBU match, CSUN will also host Washington State (Sept. 19), Portland for two matches (Sept. 20-21) this week before hosting Cal Poly (Sept. 27), and UC Santa Barbara (Sept. 28) in Big West action next week. The six-match homestand is the longest for CSUN women's volleyball in nearly 25 years. The last time the Matadors played five or more in a row on their home court was in 2000 when CSUN hosted Eastern Washington, Portland State, UC Riverside, Weber State, and Sacramento State from Nov. 2-Nov. 11.
MATADOR RANKS IN THE BIG WEST
Sophomore libero Paige Sentes, who leads CSUN in digs averaging 4.59 per set, dropped from the top spot to second in the Big West this week. Julia Ng of UC Davis moved past Sentes into first at 4.61 dps. Amaris Smith continues to ranks second in the conference in kills per set at 4.50 with Hailey Brockway fifth at 3.52. Hawai'i's Caylen Alexander averages a league-best 5.09 kills per set. Katie Kolar is second in assists (10.28) and 13th in aces (0.34). As a team. CSUN ranks as high as second in the Big West in assists, averaging 12.21 per set. The Matadors are also third in digs (15.31), fifth in kills (12.90), sixth in points per set (15.07), hitting percentage (.203), opponent hitting pct. (.226), eighth in aces (1.38), and ninth in blocks (1.69).
MATADOR QUICK SETS
CSUN comes into Tuesday's match with an all-time record of 21-22 (.488) in home openers dating back to 1976. The Matadors swept Fresno State in last season's home opener behind 10 kills from Taylor Hunter and eight kills from Taylor Orshoff. Leah Miller added seven kills (.250) as the Matadors hit a then season-high .321 in the win. CSUN has now won two straight home openers after also sweeping Cal State Bakersfield in its 2022 home opener ... Making her first start of the season, Julia Bazylevych put down a team-high 11 kills against Nevada in the opening match of the CBU/UCR Challenge. Appearing in just her third match of the season, Bazylevych had 11 kills and six errors on 23 swings to hit .217. She also added five digs, three blocks, and one ace which were all season highs ... Kolar narrowly missed her fifth double-double in seven matches this season, recording 27 assists and nine digs.
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 two-match finale against Portland, CSUN opens the Big West season while also wrapping up its season-long, six-match homestand next week against Cal Poly (Sept. 27) and UC Santa Barbara (Sept. 28).Â
#GoMatadors
