Sentes, Kolar Earn Week One Big West Player of the Week Honors
9/1/2025 2:01:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
IRVINE, Calif. - In the first Big West Women's Volleyball awards of the 2025 season, CSUN picked up two of the four weekly honors as junior Katie Kolar was named Big West Setter of the Week and junior libero Paige Sentes earned Big West Defensive Player of the Week honors on Monday (Sept. 1).Â
After winning the CSUN Ridge Invitational with a perfect 3-0 record, the Matadors picked up their first Big West awards since last Sept. 23, when Kolar also earned her second Setter of the Week award of the 2024 season.
"It's hard to single out just two of our players after a successful weekend," said head coach Aquiles Montoya. "Even though numbers tell a small part of the story, Katie and Paige were good pieces to our nice start. We had others that won accolades too, like all-tournament team (Iye Okolo) and tournament MVP (Leah Miller), but the best part is that our whole team knows we have work to do to keep polishing our team game moving forward."
In the season-opening weekend, Kolar helped CSUN to three wins after handing out 123 assists while averaging 9.46 assists per set. Kolar racked up her 18th career double-double against Idaho State with 48 assists and 11 digs, both season-highs. She also added seven kills, three aces, and one block in the season-opening win over the Bengals. Kolar then capped the weekend with 38 assists and three kills in a 3-1 victory over Pacific and 37 assists on Saturday and nine digs in a four-set win over California Baptist on Sunday.
Sentes, who joined Miller and Okolo on the Ridge Invitational All-Tournament team, was named Defensive Player of the Week after leading CSUN's back row in all three wins. Sentes averaged 4.85 digs per set after scooping up 63 digs over 13 sets. She did not have fewer than 19 digs in any of the three matches. Sentes also added three aces, two against CBU, along with 15 assists.
CSUN heads out on the road for 10 of its next 11 matches, beginning next week as the Matadors travel to the Portland Invitational, where CSUN meets Eastern Washington, Colorado State, and the host Pilots over three days (Sept. 4-6).
#GoMatadors
After winning the CSUN Ridge Invitational with a perfect 3-0 record, the Matadors picked up their first Big West awards since last Sept. 23, when Kolar also earned her second Setter of the Week award of the 2024 season.
"It's hard to single out just two of our players after a successful weekend," said head coach Aquiles Montoya. "Even though numbers tell a small part of the story, Katie and Paige were good pieces to our nice start. We had others that won accolades too, like all-tournament team (Iye Okolo) and tournament MVP (Leah Miller), but the best part is that our whole team knows we have work to do to keep polishing our team game moving forward."
In the season-opening weekend, Kolar helped CSUN to three wins after handing out 123 assists while averaging 9.46 assists per set. Kolar racked up her 18th career double-double against Idaho State with 48 assists and 11 digs, both season-highs. She also added seven kills, three aces, and one block in the season-opening win over the Bengals. Kolar then capped the weekend with 38 assists and three kills in a 3-1 victory over Pacific and 37 assists on Saturday and nine digs in a four-set win over California Baptist on Sunday.
Sentes, who joined Miller and Okolo on the Ridge Invitational All-Tournament team, was named Defensive Player of the Week after leading CSUN's back row in all three wins. Sentes averaged 4.85 digs per set after scooping up 63 digs over 13 sets. She did not have fewer than 19 digs in any of the three matches. Sentes also added three aces, two against CBU, along with 15 assists.CSUN heads out on the road for 10 of its next 11 matches, beginning next week as the Matadors travel to the Portland Invitational, where CSUN meets Eastern Washington, Colorado State, and the host Pilots over three days (Sept. 4-6).
#GoMatadors
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