California State University at Northridge
Cal Poly
CSUN Opens Big West Season vs. Cal Poly, UC Santa Barbara
9/25/2024 2:38:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
CSUNÂ THIS WEEK:
MATCH #12 (BIG WEST #1)
Cal Poly Mustangs (7-4, 0-0) @ CSUN Matadors (5-6, 0-0)
Friday, Sept. 27, 2024 - 6:00 p.m. PDT
Premier America Credit Union Arena - Northridge, Calif.
ESPN+ //Â Live Stats
MATCH #13 (BIG WEST #2)
UCSB Gauchos @Â CSUN Matadors
Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024 - 5:00 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 (5-6, 0-0 Big West) wraps up a six-match homestand this week as the Matadors welcome Cal Poly (7-4, 0-0 Big West) and UC Santa Barbara (4-8, 0-0 Big West) to open the Big West season. The Matadors host Cal Poly Friday at 6 p.m. and the Gauchos Saturday at 5 p.m. at Premier America Credit Union Arena. CSUN has won three of its first four on the homestand after defeating California Baptist (3-0) and Portland (3-2, 3-1) twice last week.
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. 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
Cal Poly (7-4, 0-0 Big West) capped the non-conference schedule with a 3-2 win over Northern Colorado at the Wichita State Tournament last weekend. The Mustangs won two of three in Wichita as Tommi Stockham led the Mustangs with 19 kills and 16 digs while setter Emme Bullis registered 52 set assists in the win over NCU. Cal Poly is 2-2 in road matches this season as it opens the Big West season on Friday.
Series: Friday's match is the 70 meeting all-time between the Matadors and Mustangs with Cal Poly holding a 40-29 lead in the all-time series. The Matadors have won 16 of the 25 matches all-time against Cal Poly in Northridge. The Mustangs claimed the lone meeting between the two teams last season, winning in straight sets in Northridge.
UC Santa Barbara (4-8, 0-0 Big West) travels to Bakersfield on Friday and Northridge on Saturday to open Big West play. The Gauchos finished non-conference play with a pair of wins at the K-State Invitational last weekend. Tournament MVP Eva Travis was named Big West Freshman of the Week after averaging 4.33 kills, 5.17 points and 2.83 digs per set to lead the Gauchos to sweeps over Kansas State and Oklahoma.Â
Series: Saturday's match is the 57th meeting all-time between CSUN and UC Santa Barbara with the Gauchos holding a 46-10 lead in the series. The two teams met once in 2023 with UCSB winning in straight sets in the Thunderdome. CSUN is 7-18 in 25 all-time matches against the Gauchos in Northridge.
KOLAR EARNS SECOND SETTER OF THE WEEK HONOR Â
CSUN women's volleyball picked up its third weekly honor of the 2024 season Monday as sophomore Katie Kolar earned Big West Setter of the Week accolades for the second time. Kolar, who was named Setter of the Week in the first awards of the season on Sept, 2, led the Matadors to a 3-1 record in four matches last week. CSUN improved to 5-6 on the season as Kolar was instrumental in three wins to open the home season. She handed out 35 assists to go with eight digs and six kills in the Matadors' 3-0 victory over California Baptist in CSUN's home opener. She then had 46 assists, nine digs, and two kills against Washington State before posting 89 assists, 22 digs, six blocks, five kills, and two aces as the Matadors took a pair of matches from Portland.
CSUN IN BIG WEST OPENERSÂ
The Matadors come into Friday's Big West opener against Cal Poly with a 25-12 (.676) all-time record in 37 previous conference home openers. With a 3-0 sweep over Cal State Bakersfield in its Big West opener last season, CSUN won for the 25th in 37 conference openers dating back to 1987. CSUN is 11-12 all-time in 23 previous Big West openers dating back to 2001. The Matadors have already evened their all-time record in home openers at 22-22 (.500) after sweeping California Baptist on Sept. 17. CSUN has now won three straight home openers, sweeping CBU this season, Fresno State in 2023, and Cal State Bakersfield in 2022.
MATADOR RANKS IN THE BIG WEST
Sophomore libero Paige Sentes reclaimed the Big West digs lead this week, averaging 4.54 digs per set. Sentes is the only libero in the Big West with 200 or more digs this season. Sentes has 209 digs in 46 sets which ranks just ahead of Julie Ng of UC Davis who has 162 digs in 37 sets (4.38). Amaris Smith continues to ranks second in the conference in kills per set (4.00) and third in points per set (4.29). Hailey Brockway ranks fifth in kills at 3.47 per set. Katie Kolar ranks second in assists this week at 10.17 per set. Kolar is also 15th in aces (0.30) and 18th in digs (2.59). As a team. CSUN leads the Big West in assists per set (12.24) and also ranks third in kills (12.93) and digs (15.48), fifth in aces (1.43), points (16.09), hitting percentage (.205), and opponent hitting percentage (.207).
MATADOR QUICK SETS
CSUN wrapped up the non-conference schedule with a 5-6 record, its best since finishing 6-6 in 12 non-conference matches in 2017. The Matadors also won five non-conference matches in 2022 (5-7) and 2019 (5-7) ... CSUN is currently 3-1 on its season-long, six-match homestand ... Leah Miller aces recorded her first aces as a Matador, serving a pair against California Baptist and one against Portland. After connecting for double-digit kills two of the first seven matches of the season, Miller has now put down double figures in kills in four straight matches ... Sentes, who has double digits in digs in every match this season, recorded her collegiate double-double with 18 digs and a career-high 12 assists in Friday's win over Portland … Iye Okolo reached double figures in kills (10) for the first time in her career against Portland on Saturday.
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 conclusion of its six-match homestand, CSUN travels to UC Irvine and Cal State Fullerton next week for a pair of conference road matches. The Matadors are at UCI on Oct. 4 and at Fullerton on Oct. 5.
#GoMatadors
