California State University at Northridge
UC San Diego
CSUN Downs UC San Diego, 3-1 for Sixth Big West Win
10/25/2025 8:47:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
LA JOLLA, Calif. — CSUN rode a balanced attack and a big blocking effort to claim a 3-1 Big West victory over UC San Diego on Saturday night at LionTree Arena.
Set scores were 25-19, 25-20, 23-25, 25-20 as the Matadors improved to 13-8 overall and 6-4 in Big West play, while the Tritons fell to 4-18 overall and 2-8 in conference.
Junior Julia Bazylevych led the way for CSUN with 16 kills on 44 swings to hit .227. She also added nine digs and two block assists to lead all players with 17 points. Senior Leah Miller added 14 kills (.355), three blocks, and a pair of digs, while fellow senior Amaris Smith came off the bench to add eight kills on 15 swings to hit .467. Setters Jan Marie Duhaylungsod and Katie Kolar ran the offense efficiently, combining for 41 assists along with 12 digs and two aces.
Defensively, junior libero Paige Sentes recorded her second career double-double with 22 digs and 10 aces, while matching her season-high with three aces. CSUN's front row proved the difference, out-blocking UC San Diego, 11-9. Middle blockers Tatiana Turgeon and Iye Okolo combined for 11 total blocks, helping the Matadors limit the Tritons to a .109 hitting percentage on the night.
After controlling the first two sets behind strong serving from Sentes, the Matadors dropped a close third frame before regaining momentum in the fourth. CSUN hit .273 in the final set and sided out at a 70 percent clip to close out the match.
For UC San Diego, Ireland McNees led all Tritons with 14 kills, while Molly McCluskey added 12 kills and two blocks.
NOTES
- With 13 wins, CSUN has its most wins in a season since also posting 13 in 2017.
- With six Big West wins in their first 10 matches, the Matadors are off to their best conference start since 2013 (9-1).
- With 22 digs in the match, Sentes now has 1,072 career digs, which is ninth in CSUN's Rally Scoring history.
- CSUN has now won two straight over UC San Diego, improving to 12-7 all-time against the Tritons.
HEAD COACH AQUILES MONTOYA SAID
"We are very happy to get out of La Jolla with a win. This week was a big challenge for our team to be tough and sharpen up our game on the outside. I thought we did both of those things. While we aren't always perfect in all aspects, we are seeing continual growth in every aspect of our team's game. We can't wait to get in front of our crowd again, and will need their help as we take on UCSB and Cal Poly."
UP NEXT
CSUN returns home next week to host UC Santa Barbara (Oct. 31) and Cal Poly (Nov. 1) in a pair of Big West matches.
#GoMatadors
