California State University at Northridge
Florida International
10-Match Week on Tap for CSUN Beach Volleyball
3/17/2025 3:22:00 PM | Beach Volleyball
MATADORS THIS WEEK:
Tuesday, Mar. 18, 2025
CSUN Beach Volleyball Complex - Northridge, Calif.
CSUN vs. #19 FIUÂ - 10Â a.m.
CSUN vs. Colorado Mesa - 2Â p.m.
Wednesday, Mar. 19, 2025
CSUN Beach Volleyball Complex - Northridge, Calif.
CSUN vs. The Master's - 10Â a.m.
CSUN vs. Nebraska - 2 p.m.
BIG WEST CHALLENGE:
Friday, Mar. 21, 2025
Swanson Beach Volleyball Complex - San Luis Obispo, Calif.
CSUN vs. #9 Long Beach State - 11:30Â a.m.
CSUN vs. Sacramento State - 4:30 p.m.
Saturday, Mar. 22, 2025
Swanson Beach Volleyball Complex - San Luis Obispo, Calif.
CSUN vs. UC Davis - 10:15 a.m.
CSUN vs. Cal State Bakersfield - 4:30Â p.m.
Sunday, Mar. 23, 2025
Swanson Beach Volleyball Complex - San Luis Obispo, Calif.
CSUN vs. #18 Hawai'i - 10:15 a.m.
CSUN vs. #6 Cal Poly - 2Â p.m.
In-game Twitter updates:Â @CSUNBeach
FORÂ STARTERS
The CSUN beach volleyball team (7-7) opens up its busiest week of the season on Tuesday, hosting a tri-dual against No. 19 Florida International and Colorado Mesa beginning at 10 a.m. The Matadors then welcome The Master's University and Nebraska for a Wednesday tri-dual before heading to San Luis Obispo this weekend for the Big West Challenge,
The annual Big West Challenge, which seeds for the Big West Championship in late April, features all seven Big West beach teams in action at Cal Poly's Swanson Beach Volleyball Complex. CSUN will play six matches over three days, starting Friday against No. 9 Long Beach State at 11:30 a.m.
FOLLOW YOUR MATADORS ONLINE
Follow CSUN Matadors' beach volleyball online at the official home of CSUN athletics, www.GoMatadors.com. For road matches, related links to the match, including any live stats, audio, and video, will be posted before the match on the beach volleyball schedule page of GoMatadors.com.Â
Fans are also encouraged to check the CSUN Athletics Department's official Twitter feed (@GoMatadors) and the beach volleyball-specific feed (@CSUNBeach) for news and notes throughout the week as well as updates of matches in progress.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
No. 19 FIU (8-9) The Panthers opened their West Coast swing last weekend, dropping all four matches at the East Meets West Invite hosted by UCLA. FIU fell to No. 18 Hawai'i (4-1), No. 7 Cal (4-1), No. 2 LMU (5-0), and No. 1 UCLA (5-0). The Panthers are a perfect 5-0 at home this season but just 3-9 away their home sand.Â
Series: Tuesday's dual match is the first-ever meeting between the Matadors and Panthers.
Colorado Mesa (10-2) has won six straight matches heading into Tuesday's tri-dual in Northridge, including a pair of 5-0 wins over Central Wyoming College at home last week. Following dual matches against FIU and CSUN in Northridge, the Mavericks head to Irvine to take on Cal State LA and Concordia at Great Park in Irvine on Wednesday. CMU's 10-2 start is the best 10-match start in program history.
Series: Tuesday's match is the 11th meeting all-time between CSUN and Colorado Mesa with the Matadors holding a 7-3 edge in the series. After the Matadors won the first five meetings, the Mavericks have claimed three of the last five matches between the two teams including a 4-1 win in Northridge last March. Â
The Master's (12-5)Â have won three of its last four, picking up wins over NAIA No. 4 Arizona Christian (4-1), Benedictine Mesa (4-1), and Park University Gilbert (5-0) last week in Huntington Beach. The Mustangs' only loss came against Ottawa (4-1), the top-ranked team in the NAIA.
Series: Wednesday's dual match is the ninth meeting between the Matadors and Mustangs with CSUN winning all eight previous matches. The Matadors have won five of the previous eight meetings 5-0 and claimed the other three by 4-1 finals including the most recent meeting in 2024.
Nebraska (12-3) has won 12 matches in row after opening the season with losses to Stephen F. Austin (3-2), No. 20 Stetson (5-0), and Mercer (3-2) at the Stetson Spring Fling in DeLand, Fla. The Huskers spent last week in Honolulu where they picked up wins over San Francisco (3-2), Hawai'i Pacific (5-0), Chaminade (5-0), and a trio of 5-0 wins over Hawaii Pacific.
Series: Wednesday's dual is also the fifth all-time between the Matadors and Huskers with CSUN holding a 3-1 edge in the series. CSUN has won the last three by 3-2 decisions including the last match in Long Beach in 2024.
Big West Challenge: CSUN will play at this weekend's event in San Luis Obispo against its fellow Big West schools that are sporting a combined  overall record of 44-36. No. 6 Cal Poly leads the conference with a 10-2 overall record, followed by No. 9 Long Beach State (10-4), UC Davis (7-5), Cal State Bakersfield (7-8), Sacramento State (5-7), and No. 18 Hawai'i (5-10). CSUN is 33-68 all-time against the Big West foes.
CSUN BEACH VOLLEYBALL HISTORY
The Matadors are 123-140 (.468) all-time in their 12th season of beach volleyball, including a 76-40 (.655) record on their home sand. After setting a program record for single-season wins with 17 in 2018, the Matadors matched that total with a 17-17 overall record in 2022 and a 17-16 record in 2023. CSUN also came within one victory of equaling the season mark in both 2019 (16-12) and last year (16-21).
Head coach Ari Homayun has led the Matadors to 40 wins in her two-plus seasons, finishing 17-16 in 2023, 16-21 in 2024, and 7-7 so far in 2025. She now needs just nine wins to surpass Noelle Rooke (48 wins from 2018-21) as the program leader in coaching wins.
The Matadors have steadily improved since the induction of the sport in 2014. Playing 10 matches, all on the road in its inaugural season, CSUN finished 1-9 in 2014. The Matadors picked up their first-ever beach volleyball win on Mar. 27, 2014 when CSUN defeated Oregon (3-2) at USC's Merle Norman Stadium.
The Matadors then debuted their on-campus facility in 2015, playing 11 matches overall and four matches at home. CSUN's first-ever home match was Mar. 5, 2015 against No. 7 UCLA. CSUN won at home for the first time on Mar. 9 of the 2015 season when the Matadors defeated TCU, 4-1. CSUN ultimately upped its season win total to three culminating with a 3-8 overall season record to close the 2015 season.
The 2016 season saw the Matadors finish 8-14 before falling to Cal Poly in the third round of the Big West Tournament. CSUN then posted an overall record of 6-12 in 2017 before winning a program-record 17 times in 2018. After posting 16 wins in 2019, the 2020 season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic with the Matadors off to a 4-1 start. CSUN won 11 times in 2021, finishing with an overall record of 11-15.
BIG WEST BEACH VOLLEYBALL
The 2025 season marks CSUN's 12th season of beach volleyball but also its 10th season as a member of the Big West. The Matadors are 7-17 all-time in the Big West Beach Volleyball Championship since the inaugural championship in 2016. The postseason championship was not held in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
At last season's conference championship at KLAC Beach Complex in Long Beach, CSUN fell to top-seeded Cal Poly (5-0), No. 4-seed UC Davis (3-2), and No. 2-seed Long Beach State (5-0).
At the 2023 Big West Championship, held at Queen's Beach in Hawai'i, the Matadors finished in fifth place after winning one of three matches. CSUN, seeded sixth, opened with a 3-2 loss to UC Davis before staving off elimination with a 3-2 win over Sacramento State. The Matadors then fell to Cal Poly (3-2) in an elimination match and finished the championship with a 1-2 record.
CSUN also finished fifth at both the 2021 and 2022 Big West Championships. At Cal Poly's Swanson Beach Volleyball Complex in 2022, the Matadors opened with a 5-0 loss to Cal Poly before staving off elimination with a 4-1 win over Sacramento State. CSUN then fell to UC Davis in an elimination match and finished the championship with a 1-2 record. At Rosie's Dog Beach in 2021, the championship finished in a similar formula for the Matadors. CSUN opened with a 5-0 loss to Hawai'i before sweeping Sacramento State, 5-0. CSU Bakersfield then eliminated the Matadors in a close 3-2 final.
The Matadors were the No. 4 seed in the seven-team field at the 2019 Big West Tournament at Zuma Beach in Malibu. CSUN finished 2-2 in the championship tournament, their best showing since also finishing 2-2 in the inaugural conference tournament in 2016. After winning two of three matches on the opening day, CSUN came up empty against No. 3 seed Long Beach State on Saturday and was the fourth squad eliminated from the tournament. Cal Poly, the No. 2 seed, went undefeated in four tournament matches to capture its first conference championship along with the Big West's automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament. Hawai'i, the top seed coming in, finished second.
At the 2018 championship in Hawai'i, the Matadors were seeded fourth in the six-team field in but were upset by fifth-seeded CSU Bakersfield in the opening round (3-2). CSUN then fell to No. 2 seed Cal Poly in an elimination match (5-0).Â
The Matadors were also seeded fourth at the 2017 Big West Tournament held at Pismo Beach but fell to Sacramento State (3-2) and Cal Poly (5-0) in their two tournament matches.Â
In 2016, CSUN was the third seed in the inaugural conference tournament before finishing 2-2 including a close 3-2 loss to Cal Poly in a third-round elimination match at Huntington Beach.
#GoMatadors
