California State University at Northridge
Cal State Bakersfield
CSUN Travels to Bakersfield for Single Match on Saturday
4/3/2025 11:01:00 AM | Beach Volleyball
MATADORS THIS WEEK:
Saturday, Apr. 5, 2025
Barnes Beach Complex - Bakersfield, Calif.
CSUN @ Cal State Bakersfield - 10 a.m.
In-game Twitter updates:Â @CSUNBeach
FORÂ STARTERS
The CSUN beach volleyball team (13-13) travels to Bakersfield this Saturday for a single match against the Roadrunners at 10 a.m. The Matadors are coming off a tri-dual split in Irvine last week after defeating Texas A&M-Kingsville (3-2) before falling to Concordia (4-1) at the OC Great Park.Â
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.
HEFLIN CLOSES IN ON SINGLE-SEASON INDIVIDUAL WINS RECORD
With a pair of wins - along with partner Dylan Hall - over Texas A&M-Kingsville and Concordia last week, freshman Hannah Heflin is now within one win of tying the single-season individual wins record of 21. With 20 wins this season, Heflin has tied Kailey Klein, who notched 20 wins in 2022. Gabriela Griego and Abbey Sweeting in 2023 and Victoria Rogers in 2022 each won 21 times to share the single-season program record. Hall and Heflin have won 15 of their 17 matches this season and are unbeaten at No. 3 (2-0) and No. 5 (4-0). The pair have played 11 times at No. 4 and are 9-2 heading into Saturday's match in Bakersfield. This season, Heflin also has three wins (3-3) with Morgan Gillinger, one with Maleya Miles (1-0), and one with Sophia Jarosz (1-1).
MATADOR BEACH NOTES
In addition to Hall and Heflin's team-leading 15 wins, three other pairs have reached double figures in wins for the Matadors. Maleya Miles and Layla Cederlind rank second with 12 wins, followed by Tia Mendiola and Julia Bazylevych with 11 and Tasha Mae and Kinley Lindhardt with 10 ... CSUN is 8-4 on its home sand with two more dual matches to go in 2025. The Matadors will host Cal State LA and Cal State Bakersfield on Apr. 8, when the team will also honor seniors Layla Cederlind, Sophia Jarosz, Tasha Mae, Tia Mendiola, and Jadin Williams before the 2 p.m. match against the Roadrunners ... CSUN has played 20 different pairs combinations this season, two behind the record of 22 different pairs combinations in 2024. 19 different pairs combinations partnered up in 2022 and CSUN used 18 in 2023.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
Cal State Bakersfield (8-13) hasn't played since finishing 1-5 at the Big West Challenge in San Luis Obispo on Mar. 21-22. The Roadrunners' No. 2 pair of Ella Erteltová and Vivi Kaelin broke the program wins record as each won for the 45th time. The CSUB pair picked up six wins at Swanson Beach Complex, defeating Sacramento State, No. 8 Long Beach State, UC Davis, No. 17 Hawai'i, and CSUN's Mendiola and Bazylevych, 21-11, 22-20. The 'Runners have played just three home dual matches this season, defeating The Master's (4-1) and Hope International (5-0) while dropping a 3-2 decision to Concordia in a quad dual on Mar. 8.
Series: Saturday's dual match is the 35th meeting all-time between CSUN and Cal State Bakersfield, dating back to 2014. The Matadors hold a 19-15 edge in the series and have won five of the last seven between the two teams after picking up a pair of 3-2 wins already earlier this season (Mar. 5, Mar. 22). CSUN is 4-7 in 11 matches all-time in Bakersfield.
CSUN BEACH VOLLEYBALL HISTORY
The Matadors are 129-146 (.469) all-time in their 12th season of beach volleyball, including a 79-41 (.658) 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 46 wins in her two-plus seasons, finishing 17-16 in 2023, 16-21 in 2024, and 13-13 so far in 2025. She now needs just three wins to surpass Noelle Rooke (48 wins from 2018-21) as the program leader in coaching wins.
BIG WEST BEACH VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
The 2025 season marks CSUN's 12th season of beach volleyball and its 10th season as a member of the Big West. The Matadors, who will host the 2025 Championship at Ocean Park Courts in Santa Monica (Ap3. 24-25), 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.
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