California State University at Northridge
Long Beach State
CSUN Hosts Long Beach State Before Traveling to UC San Diego
10/22/2025 12:43:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
CSUNÂ THIS WEEK:
MATCH #20Â (BIG WESTÂ #9)
Long Beach State (14-5, 7-1) @ CSUN Matadors (11-8, 4-4)
Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025Â - 6:00 p.m. PT
Premier America Credit Union Arena - Northridge, Calif.
ESPN+Â //Â Live Stats
MATCH #21 (BIG WESTÂ #10)
CSUNÂ Matadors @ UC San Diego Tritons
Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025 - 6:00 p.m. PT
LionTree Arena - La Jolla, Calif.
ESPN+Â //Â Live Stats
In-game X updates:Â @CSUNWVB
CSUN WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL MEDIA NOTES
FORÂ STARTERS
The CSUN Women's Volleyball team (11-8, 4-4 Big West) wraps up a three-match homestand against Long Beach State on Thursday (Oct. 23) before traveling to UC San Diego on Saturday (Oct. 25). First serve for both matches is scheduled for 6 p.m.
The Matadors, who will conclude the first half of the Big West season this week. opened the homestand with a split in a pair of Big West matches, sweeping UC Riverside on Thursday before falling to league-leading UC Davis in straight sets on Saturday.
FOLLOW YOUR MATADORS
Both matches this week will stream live on ESPN+ and both matches will have live stats at GoMatadors.com. For CSUN home matches, Darren Preston returns to call women's volleyball in 2025 and will be joined by men's volleyball assistant coach Ryan Mason for select matches.
Fans can follow CSUN Matador women's volleyball online at the official home of CSUN athletics, www.GoMatadors.com. 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 OPPONENTS
Long Beach State (14-5, 7-1 Big West) travels to CSUN on Thursday before returning home to host Cal State Bakersfield on Saturday. The Beach have won two straight and 11 of their last 12 matches after defeating UCSD (3-1) and Hawai'i (3-0) at home last week. Fifth-year senior middle blocker Nieko Thomas was named Big West Defensive Player of the Week on Oct. 20 after a dominant weekend at the net. The former Matador averaged 2.00 blocks, 1.29 kills and 2.43 points per set in two wins. As a team, the Beach rank 37th nationally in blocks per set (2.61) and 39th in total blocks (182.5).
Series: Thursday's match is the 54th meeting all-time between the Matadors and the Beach, with Long Beach leading the all-time series 40-13. The Beach claimed both meetings last season (3-0 in Northridge, 3-1 in Long Beach) and have won three straight and 12 of the last 13 in the all-time series.
UC San Diego (4-16, 2-6 Big West) has lost five straight matches after falling in four sets at Long Beach State before being swept at home by Hawai'i last week. Sophomore opposite Molly McCluskey leads the Tritons offensively as she ranks first in the Big West in total attacks (715), second in total kills (262) and points (306.0), fifth in points per set (3.92), sixth in kills per set (3.36) and eighth in aces per set (0.27).
Series: Saturday's match is just the 19th meeting all-time between CSUN and UC San Diego, with the Matadors holding an 11-7 edge in the all-time series. CSUN snapped a seven-match skid to the Tritons with a straight set win in La Jolla at the tail end of the 2024 season. The Matadors are 5-3 all-time on the road against the Tritons.
SENTES REACHES 1,000 CAREER DIGS
With her 10th dig in a 13-dig performance at UC Irvine on Oct. 11, CSUN junior libero Paige Sentes reached 1,000 digs in her CSUN career. With 31 digs in two matches last week (16 vs. UCR, 15 vs. UCD), Sentes now has 1,034 career digs while averaging 3.40 digs per set over 298 career sets. Cindy Ortiz (2009-12) holds the all-time CSUN and rally scoring era records with 1,456 digs, while Alexis Cormier (1998-01) holds the sideout scoring era record with 1,194 career digs. Sentes, a two-time Big West Defensive Player of the Week in 2025, leads the Matadors with 332 digs this season while averaging 4.43 digs per set which ranks second in the conference. Sentes is one of only three players in the Big West with over 300 digs this season.Â
CSUN'S BIG WEST RANKINGS
As a team, the Matadors took over the Big West lead in digs per set this week at 14.40. CSUN leads the conference in total digs with 1,080 in 75 sets. The Matadors are fifth this week in a host of statistical categories; hitting percentage (.211), aces per set (1.48), opponent hitting percentage (.196), kills per set (12.57), assists per set (11.49), and points per set (16.24).
Individually, Sentes moved up to second in digs per set (4.43) this week, while Tatiana Turgeon remains in the top five in blocks per set this week at 1.17 and Hayley Ogden ranks fourth in hitting percentage at .338. Saniyah Sobers, CSUN's aces leader with 22, is fifth this week in aces per set (0.29) with Jan Marie Duhaylungsod one spot behind in sixth at 0.28.
MATADOR QUICK SETS
Junior Hailey Brockway made her first appearance since Aug. 30 when she came off the bench to put down a pair of kills against UC Riverside on Friday. Brockway, who ranked third on the Matadors in kills last season with 306, suffered an injury in CSUN's second match of the season and missed the next 15 matches ... Duhaylungsod now has double-doubles in two of her last nine matches after posting 14 assists and a season-high 15 digs against UC Riverside ... Iye Okolo connected for eight kills on nine errorless swings against UCR and is now hitting a team-high .430 this season. Okolo would rank third in the Big West if she had enough attempts to qualify.
CSUN HEAD COACH AQUILES MONTOYAÂ
Aquiles Montoya opens his second season as head coach of the CSUN Women's Volleyball team in 2025. In his first season, Montoya led the Matadors to a 10-19 overall record, as CSUN reached double figures in wins for the first time since 2019. With five Big West wins, Montoya led CSUN to its highest conference win total in three seasons. He was named the ninth head coach of the CSUN women's volleyball program on Apr. 10, 2024. Montoya arrived at CSUN after spending the past four seasons as associate head coach and director of recruiting at Portland State. 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.
LOOKING AHEAD
Following Saturday's match at UC San Diego, CSUN opens the second half of the Big West season next week hosting UC Santa Barbara (Oct. 31) and Cal Poly (Nov. 1) at Premier America Credit Union Arena.
#GoMatadors
