California State University at Northridge
#4 SEED UC Santa Barbara
CSUN Opens Outrigger Big West Championship vs. 4-Seed UC Santa Barbara
11/25/2025 7:52:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
The Hawaiian Island presents the 2025 Outrigger Big West Women's Volleyball Championship
MATCH #1 (SEASON MATCH #30)
#5 SEED CSUN Matadors (17-12) vs. #4 SEED UC Santa Barbara Gauchos (22-8)
Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2025Â - 3:00 p.m. PT
LBS Credit Union Pyramid - Long Beach, Calif.
ESPN+ // Live Stats // Tickets
In-game X updates:Â @CSUNWVB
CSUN WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL MEDIA NOTES
FORÂ STARTERS
The CSUN Women's Volleyball team (17-12) returns to the postseason this week as the Matadors open The Hawaiian Islands presents the 2025 Outrigger Big West Women's Volleyball Championship on Wednesday against No. 4 seed UC Santa Barbara (22-8) at 3 p.m.
CSUN finished the regular season fifth in the Big West standings at 10-8. The Matadors capped the 2025 regular season on the road last week, falling to UC Davis in five sets before defeating UC Riverside in five sets in the regular season finale on Saturday.
FOLLOW YOUR MATADORS
Wednesday's first-round match against UC Santa Barbara will stream live on ESPN+ and will have live stats with a link available at GoMatadors.com. 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 (22-8) finished the regular season with five straight wins after defeating UC Irvine (3-2) and Cal State Fullerton (3-0) on the road last week. At 14-4 in the Big West, the Gauchos tied for second with both Cal Poly and Long Beach State but earned the No. 4 seed in the postseason based on tiebreaker scenarios. UCSB leads the Big West in points per set (17.54), assists per set (12.75), kills per set (13.69), and blocks per set (2.59). Redshirt sophomore Eva Travis was named Big West Offensive Player of the Week this week after putting down a league-high 30 kills in UCSB's win over UC Irvine last week.
Series: Wednesday's postseason match is the 61st meeting all-time between CSUN and UCSB, with the Gauchos holding a commanding 50-10 lead in the all-time series. After winning both matches between the two teams this season (3-1 in Goleta, 3-0 in Northridge), UCSB has now won 14 straight in the series dating back to the last Matador win in 2017 (3-1 in Northridge). CSUN is 0-2 all- time in matches against the Gauchos on neutral site courts.
CSUN BIG WEST CHAMPIONSHIP NOTES
Wednesday's match against UCSB marks CSUN's first-ever appearance in the Outrigger Big West Women's Volleyball Championship. No stranger to the postseason, the Matadors have made 23 postseason appearances dating back to their first in 1979. Since jumping to Div. I level in 1990, CSUN made 12 postseason appearances, winning the Big Sky Conference championship in 1996 and finishing second in 1999. The Matadors' last postseason appearance was memorable, reaching the second round of the NCAA Tournament in 2013 after upsetting Colorado State in five sets in the first round. CSUN has never met either of the five teams in the Outrigger Big West Championship field in a postseason match.
SENTES MOVES INTO NINTH IN CSUN CAREER DIGS
With 41 digs in two matches last week, including a season-high 27 in CSUN's 3-2 win at UC Riverside, junior libero Paige Sentes moved into ninth place in CSUN history with 1,187 digs. Sentes, averaging 3.43 digs per set over 346 sets in her career, has moved past both Dawn Krenik and Jessika Hammerich this season. 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 485 digs this season while averaging 4.15 digs per set, which ranks fourth in the conference. Sentes is one of only five players in the Big West with over 400 digs this season.
CSUN QUICK SETS
With 624 assists this season, junior Katie Kolar has moved into eighth place in CSUN history in career assists with 1,758. Kolar heads into the postseason needing just eight assists to move past Carisa Barron into sixth place in CSUN's Rally Scoring history ... Fellow setter Taylor Dunlap picked up her first double-double of the season (third career) with 25 assists and 14 digs against UC Davis ... Junior Julia Bazylevych posted double-doubles against both UC Davis and UC Riverside last week to up her team-leading total to nine this season. She finished the regular season with a team-best kills per set average of 2.90. Senior Leah Miller finished as the team leader in kills with 291 ... Junior Tatiana Turgeon passed 300 career kills last week ... Freshman Layla Moore has appeared in each of CSUN's last seven matches and has posted 27 total blocks over that span. Moore is now tied for third among Matador blockers with seven solo blocks ... After posting a season-high 92 team digs against UC Irvine on Nov. 13, CSUN had 83 at UC Davis and 80 at UC Riverside last week ... CSUN heads into the postseason ranked as high as third in the Big West in digs per set at 14.49. The Matadors are also fifth in hitting (.212), assists per set (11.56), kills per set (12.53), and aces per set (1.35).
CSUN HEAD COACH AQUILES MONTOYAÂ
Aquiles Montoya is in his second season as head coach of the CSUN Women's Volleyball team in 2025. This season, Montoya has led CSUN to its most wins and most Big West wins since 2014. The Matadors also will post a winning regular season record for the first time 2014 as well. 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.
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