California State University at Northridge
UC Irvine
CSUN Wraps Up Home Season vs. UC Irvine, Cal State Fullerton
11/13/2025 9:23:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
CSUNÂ THIS WEEK:
MATCH #26Â (BIG WESTÂ #15)
UC Irvine Anteaters (11-15, 6-8) @Â CSUN Matadors (14-11, 7-7)
Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025Â - 6:00 p.m. PT
Premier America Credit Union Arena - Northridge, Calif.
ESPN+Â //Â Live Stats
MATCH #27Â (BIG WESTÂ #16)
Cal State Fullerton Titans @ CSUNÂ Matadors
Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025 - 6:00 p.m. PT
Premier America Credit Union Arena - Northridge, 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 (14-11, 7-7 Big West) concludes the 2025 home season this week, welcoming UC Irvine and Cal State Fullerton to Premier America Credit Union Arena. The Matadors, tied for fifth in the Big West standings at 7-7, look to solidify a berth in the Outrigger Big West Championship in two weeks.
CSUN split a pair of matches last week, defeating Cal State Bakersfield in five sets at home on Wednesday before falling in straight sets at Hawai'i on Friday.
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. Ghizal Hasan will be on the call for Saturday's match.Â
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 Irvine (11-15, 6-8 Big West) split a pair of matches last week, falling to UC Davis (0-3) and defeating UC Riverside (3-0). Against UCR, outside hitter Madison Triplett tied her career-best with a team-high 14 kills, while recording her third career double-double with 14 digs, while adding two block assists, and an ace in the win. After hitting just .028 against UC Davis, the Anteaters bounced back with a .301 clip (42-8-113) against the Highlanders, their second-best mark of the season. UCI ranks 41st in the country and fourth in the Big West in blocks with a 2.53 mark.
Series: Thursday's match is the 69th meeting all-time between CSUN and UCI, with the Anteaters holding a 38-30 lead in the all-time series. UC Irvine, which claimed a 3-1 win in Irvine in October, has won nine straight in the series dating back to the last Matador wins in 2019 (3-2 in Northridge, 3-2 in Irvine). CSUN is 16-14 all-time against UCI in 30 matches in Northridge.
Cal State Fullerton (8-18, 3-11 Big West) opens the week at Cal State Bakersfield on Friday before traveling to CSUN on Saturday. The Titans split a pair of home matches last week, sweeping UC Riverside on Friday before falling in four sets to Big West leader UC Davis on Saturday. Fullerton claimed the opening set (25-22) against UC Davis before the Aggies rallied to win in four on Saturday afternoon. Senior Ketesia Hall leads the Titans, averaging 2.16 kps while Fullerton ranks 11th in the Big West in hitting at .157 on the season.
Series: Saturday's match is the 61st meeting all-time between the Matadors and Titans, with CSUN leading the all-time series 45-15. The Matadors have won three straight over the Titans after winning in Fullerton in October (3-0). CSUN claimed both meetings last season (3-2 in Fullerton, 3-0 in Northridge) and has now won five of the last six in the series.
POSTSEASON PICTURE
Heading into the final two weeks of the Big West season, the Matadors are currently tied for fifth in the standings at 7-7. CSUN is tied with Hawai'i, one game ahead of Thursday's opponent UC Irvine (6-8). UC Davis (13-1) and Cal Poly (12-2) have already clinched a berth in the Outrigger Big West Championship (Nov. 26-29 in Long Beach with UC Santa Barbara (10-4) and Long Beach State (10-4) tied for third. Only the top six teams in the final standings earn a postseason berth. With four matches remaining, the Matadors can still finish with 11 conference wins. CSUN is seeking its first-ever berth in The Big West Championship, now in its third year of existence.Â
SENIOR NIGHT
Prior to Saturday's home finale against Cal State Fullerton, CSUN will honor its four seniors in a pre-match ceremony. Autumn Rojelio, Iye Okolo, Amaris Smith, and Leah Miller will be celebrated. Rojelio, a two-year Matador after transferring from Ventura College in 2024, has 260 career digs over 165 sets in her CSUN career. Okolo, a three-year starter at middle blocker, is a career .290 hitter (currently fourth in CSUN's Rally Scoring era)Â with 375 career kills (1.28 kps) and 222 career blocks. Smith has 585 kills at CSUN after transferring from Long Island in 2024. She led the Matadors with 383 kills as a junior in 2024 and has 202 kills this season. Smith also has 251Â digs and 78 blocks in her Matador career. Miller has 809 kills at CSUN after transferring to CSUN prior to the 2023 season. Miller is a career .227 hitter on 2,188 career swings with 209 digs and 163 career blocks.
SENTES MOVES INTO 10TH IN CAREER DIGS
With 26 digs in two matches last week, junior libero Paige Sentes moved past Dawn Krenik into 10th place on the CSUN career digs top 10 list. Sentes who is also 10th in CSUN's Rally Scoring era, now has 1,115 career digs while averaging 3.39 digs per set over 329 career sets. With her 10th dig in a 13-dig performance at UC Irvine on Oct. 11, Sentes became the 12th CSUN player to reach 1,000 digs in her 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 413 digs this season while averaging 4.13 digs per set, which ranks fifth in the conference. Sentes is one of only two players in the Big West with over 400 digs this season.
CSUN'S BIG WEST RANKINGS
As a team, the Matadors rank as high as fifth in the Big West in hitting percentage (.209), aces per set (1.41) and digs per set (14.11). CSUN is also sixth this week in two other categories; points per set (16.10) and kills per set (12.48), and is seventh in both opponent hitting percentage (.203) and assists per set (11.43).
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 against Cal State Fullerton, the Matadors conclude the regular season on the road at UC Davis (Nov. 20) and UC Riverside (Nov. 22).
#GoMatadors
