California State University at Northridge
UC Santa Barbara
CSUN Opens Second Half of Big West Season vs. Cal Poly, UCSB
10/31/2025 11:32:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
CSUNÂ THIS WEEK:
MATCH #22 (BIG WESTÂ #11)
UC Santa Barbara (15-7, 7-3) @ CSUN Matadors (13-8, 6-4)
Thursday, Oct. 31, 2025Â - 6:00 p.m. PT
Premier America Credit Union Arena - Northridge, Calif.
ESPN+Â //Â Live Stats
MATCH #23 (BIG WESTÂ #12)
Cal Poly @ CSUN Matadors
Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025 - 6:00 p.m. PT
Premier America Credit Union Arena - Northridge, Calif.
Live Stats
In-game X updates:Â @CSUNWVB
CSUN WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL MEDIA NOTES
FORÂ STARTERS
The CSUN Women's Volleyball team (13-8, 6-4 Big West) opens up the second half of the Big West season this week, hosting UC Santa Barbara on Friday and Cal Poly on Saturday. First serve for both matches is scheduled for 6 p.m.
The Matadors, who finished 6-4 over the first half of league play, have won two straight and six of their last eight matches after knocking off Long Beach State in five sets at home and defeating UC San Diego in four on the road last week.
FOLLOW YOUR MATADORS
Friday's match against UC Santa Barbara 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
UC Santa Barbara (15-7, 7-3 Big West) travels for a pair of matches this week, visiting CSUN on Friday and Cal State Bakersfield on Saturday. The Gauchos split two matches last week, topping UC Riverside (3-1) before falling in five sets to UC Davis.
The Gauchos open the second half of Big West play in fourth place in the Big West standings at 7-3.
Series: Friday's match is the 60th meeting all-time between CSUN and UCSB, with the Gauchos holding a 49-10 lead in the all-time series. UCSB has won 13 straight in the series dating back to the last Matador win in 2017 (3-1 in Northridge). CSUN is 7-19 all-time in 26 matches against the Gauchos in Northridge.
Cal Poly (4-16, 2-6 Big West) extended its home winning streak to 16 straight with a 3-1 win over UC Davis last weekend. The Mustangs improved to 12-0 at home this season, the best in Division I, and 17-5 overall. Cal Poly handed the Aggies their first Big West loss of the season.
Series: Saturday's match is the 73rd meeting all-time between the Matadors and Mustangs, with Cal Poly leading the all-time series 43-29. The Matadors are 16-20 all- time against Cal Poly in Northridge.
SENTES MOVES INTO 10TH IN RALLY SCORING DIGS
CSUN junior libero Paige Sentes moved past Laura Walter into 10th place on the CSUN Rally Scoring era digs list last week. With 38 digs in two matches last week (16 vs. Long Beach State, 22 at UC San Diego), Sentes now has 1,072 career digs while averaging 3.402 digs per set over 313 career sets. With her 10th dig in a 13-dig performance at UC Irvine on Oct. 11, Sentes reached 1,000 digs in her CSUN career.
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 370 digs this season while averaging 4.40 digs per set which ranks second in the conference. Sentes is one of only five players in the Big West with over 300 digs this season.
CSUN'S BIG WEST RANKINGS
As a team, the Matadors rank as high as third in the Big West in aces per set at 1.46. CSUN, which led the conference in digs per set last week, slipped to fourth this week at 14.20 per set. The Matadors are fifth this week in a host of statistical categories; hitting percentage (.214), kills per set (12.61), assists per set (11.54), and points per set (16.26), while also ranking sixth in opponent hitting percentage (.196) and seventh in blocks per set (2.19). Individually, Sentes remained second in digs per set (4.40) this week, Hayley Ogden and Tatiana Turgeon are fourth in hitting percentage (.328) and blocks per set (1.15) respectively. Saniyah Sobers, CSUN's co-aces leader with 23, is tied for seventh this week with Jan Marie Duhaylungsod in aces per set (0.28) with Sentes ninth at 0.27.
MATADOR QUICK SETS
With 10 blocks in two CSUN wins last week, junior middle blocker Iye Okolo moved past 200 career blocks at CSUN. Okolo, who leads the Matadors with 72 blocks this season, now has 207 career blocks. After posting 53 blocks as a freshman in 2023, Okolo posted a season-high 82 blocks in 2024 before adding 72 this season ... After returning from injury on Oct. 17 vs. UC Riverside, junior Hailey Brockway  had a season-high 11 kills on a season-high 41 attacks against Long Beach State ... Leah Miller joined Julia Bazylevych as the two CSUN hitters with over 200 kills this season. Bazylevych currently leads the team with 213 (3.18 kps) while Miller had 25 kills in two matches last week to increase her season total to 203.
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
