California State University at Northridge
Cal State Fullerton
CSUN Travels to Orange County to Meet Fullerton, UC Irvine
10/9/2025 12:07:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
CSUNÂ THIS WEEK:
MATCH #16 (BIG WESTÂ #5)
CSUN Matadors (9-6, 2-2) @ Cal State Fullerton Titans (6-10, 1-3)
Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025Â - 6:00 p.m. PT
Titan Gym - Fullerton, Calif.
ESPN+Â //Â Live Stats
MATCH #17 (BIG WESTÂ #6)
CSUNÂ Matadors @ UC Irvine Anteaters
Saturday, Oct. 11, 2025 - 5:00 p.m. PT
Bren Events Center - Irvine, Calif.
ESPN+Â //Â Live Stats
In-game X updates:Â @CSUNWVB
CSUN WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL MEDIA NOTES
FORÂ STARTERS
Riding a two-match Big West win streak, the CSUN Women's Volleyball team (9-6, 2-2 Big West) heads back on the road for a pair of matches this week. The Matadors travel to Cal State Fullerton on Thursday to meet the Titans (6-10, 1-3) at 6 p.m. The week wraps up in Irvine on Saturday as CSUN as the Matadors meet the Anteaters (6-10, 1-3) at the Bren Center at 5 p.m.
CSUN picked up its first two Big West wins last week, defeating Cal State Bakersfield, 3-1 on the road, before sweeping Hawai'i in Northridge.
FOLLOW YOUR MATADORS
Both Big West matches this week will be streamed live on ESPN+, live stats are also available 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
Cal State Fullerton (6-10, 1-3) closed out a 16-match road stretch to open the season with 3-0 losses at UC Davis and UC Riverside last week. The Titans are the last Big West team to play a home match this season. Senior MB Ketesia Hall leads Fullerton in kills per set at 2.47 which ranks 19th in the Big West. As a team, the Titans rank seventh in the Big West in hitting at .185.Â
Series: Thursday's match is the 60th meeting all-time between the Matadors and Titans, with CSUN leading the all-time series 44-15. The Matadors claimed both meetings last season (3-2 in Fullerton, 3-0 in Northridge) and have won four of the last five in the series.
UC Irvine (6-10, 1-3) picked up its first Big West win last week, sweeping UC Riverside on the road before falling in four sets at UC Davis. The Anteaters are 1-4 at home this season with their lone win coming in straight sets over Fresno State on Sept. 5. Senior libero Campbell Jensen scooped up 30 digs against UC Davis, the second-best total in the Big West this season. Jensen moved past CSUN's Paige Sentes into the Big West lead in digs per set this week at 4.53.
Series: Saturday's match is the 68th meeting all-time between CSUN and UCI, with the Anteaters holding a 37-30 lead in the all-time series. UC Irvine has won eight straight in the series dating back to the last Matador wins in 2019 (3-2 in Northridge, 3-2 in Irvine). CSUN is 12-21 all-time against UCI in 33 matches in Irvine.
SENTES CLOSES IN ON 1,000 CAREER DIGS
CSUN junior libero Paige Sentes added 16 digs in two matches last week to raise her career total to 973. With her next 27 digs, Sentes will become the 11th player in program history with 1,000 career digs. 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 271 digs and is averaging 4.37 digs per set which ranks fourth in the conference. Sentes, who had her streak of 13 consecutive matches with double digits in digs snapped with seven digs in Bakersfield, leads all Big West players this season with 271 digs over 62 sets.
CSUN MIDDLES CONTINUE TO SHINEÂ
CSUN's middle blocker duo of Iye Okolo and Tatiana Turgeon shined for the Matadors in recent weeks. Turgeon moved to the top of the Big West in blocks per set this week at 1.23, while Okolo has not committed a hitting error in three straight matches. Since matching her season-high with seven blocks at San Francisco on Sept. 18, Turgeon has 18 blocks in CSUN's last four matches. Okolo is hitting .682 over her last three matches with 15 kills on 22 swings without an error. Okolo has committed just 18 hitting errors on 165 swings this season and has just a pair of errors over her last 48 attacks.
CSUN'S BIG WEST RANKINGS
As a team, the Matadors slipped from first to second in the Big West in digs per set this week at 14.39. With a conference-best 892 digs in 62 sets this season, CSUN ranks second to UC Irvine which has 839 digs in 58 sets for a 14.47 digs per set average. The Matadors are third in both kills per set (12.87) and aces per set (1.48) this week and are fourth in three other statistical categories: hitting percentage (.219), opponent hitting (.194), and assists per set (11.81).
Individually, Turgeon is the Big West blocks per set leader at 1.23, while Sentes slipped to fourth in digs per set (4.37). Julia Bazylevych is seventh in kills per set (3.37), while Hayley Ogden ranks sixth in hitting percentage (.364) and 10th in blocks (1.00).
MATADOR QUICK SETS
Redshirt freshman Kyleigh Moore registered double figures in kills for the first time this season with 14 at Cal State Bakersfield. Moore has come close to her first double-double on a pair of occasions, most recently against Hawai'i when she added nine digs ... Freshman Layla Moore picked up her first collegiate kill in Saturday's win over Hawai'i. Moore, who made his CSUN debut against San José State on Sept. 19, also had one block assist against the Rainbow Wahine ... CSUN's 3-0 sweep over Hawai'i was its first win over the Rainbow Wahine since 2014 and the also its first sweep over UH since the same 2014 season.
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 Irvine, CSUN returns home to open up a three-match homestand against UC Riverside on Friday, Oct. 17, at 6 p.m.
#GoMatadors
