California State University at Northridge
Cal Poly
CSUN Opens Big West Season at Cal Poly, UC Santa Barbara
9/25/2025 9:45:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
CSUN THIS WEEK:
MATCH #12 (BIG WEST #1)
CSUN Matadors (7-4, 0-0) @ Cal Poly Mustangs (9-3, 0-0)
Friday, Sept. 26, 2025 - 6:00 p.m. PT
Mott Athletics Center - San Luis Obispo, Calif.
ESPN+ // Live Stats
MATCH #13 (BIG WEST #2)
CSUN Matadors @ UC Santa Barbara Gauchos
Saturday, Sept. 27, 2025 - 7:00 p.m. PT
The Thunderdome - Goleta, Calif.
ESPN+ // Live Stats
In-game X updates: @CSUNWVB
CSUN WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL MEDIA NOTES
FOR STARTERS
The CSUN Women's Volleyball team (7-4, 0-0 Big West) opens up the 2025 Big West season this week with road matches at Cal Poly (9-3, 0-0) and UC Santa Barbara (8-4, 0-0). The Matadors, winners of two straight, meet the Mustangs Friday at 6 pm., before traveling to the Thunderdome to meet the Gauchos on Saturday at 7 p.m. CSUN picked up its first true road win of the season last week, defeating San Francisco in four sets at War Memorial at the Sobrato Center.
FOLLOW YOUR MATADORS
Both Big West matches this week will be streamed live on ESPN+, live stats are also available 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.
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
Cal Poly (9-3, 0-0) has won six straight after defeating Saint Mary's (3-2), upsetting No. 20 Utah (3-0), and sweeping California Baptist in the SLO Classic last weekend. The Mustangs are now receiving votes in the AVCA poll, their first appearance since earning an NCAA at-large bid in 2019. Junior OH Emma Fredrick leads the team in kills (139) while also tying for the team lead in digs (103). Redshirt senior setter Emme Bullis averages 8.74 assists per set for the Mustangs, who are hitting .290 as a team.
Series: Friday's match is the 72nd meeting all-time between the Matadors and Mustangs, with Cal Poly leading the all-time series 42-29. The Matadors are 13-20 all-time against Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, CSUN's last win coming in 2014.
UC Santa Barbara (8-4, 0-0), also receiving votes in this week's AVCA poll, wrapped up the non-conference season, winning two of three at the Dayton Flyer Invitational last week. The Gauchos swept Illinois State and Wright State around a 3-1 loss to host Dayton. Sophomore OH Eva Travis, who ranks second in the Big West in kills per set (4.13), had 34 kills in UCSB's three matches in Ohio, while senior MB Layanna Green leads the conference in hitting at .434.
Series: Saturday's match is the 59th meeting all-time between CSUN and UCSB, with the Gauchos holding a 48-10 lead in the all-time series. UCSB has won 12 straight in the series dating back to the last Matador win in 2017 (3-1 in Northridge). CSUN is 3-27 all-time in 30 matches in Santa Barbara.
SENTES EARNS SECOND BIG WEST PLAYER OF THE WEEK
In the fourth Big West Women's Volleyball weekly awards of the 2025 season, CSUN libero Paige Sentes earned her second Defensive Player of the Week honor on Monday (Sept. 22). The award is the third career honor for the junior libero, who earned Big West Defensive Player of the Week honors earlier this season (Sept. 1) and was named Big West Freshman of the Week on Oct. 9, 2023. In claiming the USF Challenge in San Francisco last week, Sentes led CSUN with 49 digs while averaging 6.13 digs per set. She also added four aces and 10 assists as the Matadors defeated San Francisco and San José State. In CSUN's 3-1 win over San Francisco, Sentes had 26 digs, three aces, and four assists. In the tournament finale, she had 23 digs, six assists, and one ace as the Matadors also won in four sets. She also had a single reception error on 30 attempts over eight sets.
CSUN IN BIG WEST OPENERS
The Matadors come into Friday's Big West opener at Cal Poly with a 24-14 (.632) all-time record in 38 previous conference home openers. CSUN also opened Big West play against the Mustangs in 2024, with Cal Poly earning a 3-0 win in Northridge. The Matadors' last conference-opening win came in 2018 when CSUN swept Cal State Fullerton, and they are 1-5 in Big West openers since 2018. CSUN. The Matadors are 11-13 all-time in 24 previous Big West openers dating back to 2001. The Matadors have already improved to 23-22 in home openers after pulling off a reverse sweep over Idaho State on Aug. 29.
CSUN'S BIG WEST RANKINGS
As a team, the Matadors rank as high as second in the Big West in a pair of statistical categories. CSUN is second this week in both digs per set (14.35) and opponent hitting percentage (.187). The Matadors are also fourth in both assists per set (11.85) and kills per set (13.02). Individually, Sentes continues to lead the Big West in digs per set (4.81), while Julia Bazylevych has moved up to fifth in kills per set (3.64) with Amaris Smith in 20th (2.50). Hayley Ogden (.377) is third this week in hitting percentage, followed by Leah Miller (.287) in ninth place. Tatiana Turgeon moved up to fifth in blocks per set (1.13) and Katie Kolar continues to rank fifth in assists per set (8.72), Sentes (.025) and Saniyah Sobers (0.25) are also tied for 19th in aces per set.
MATADOR QUICK SETS
With seven non-conference wins, CSUN posted its most wins since finishing 9-3 in 2014 ... With 11 kills in two matches last week, junior middle Iye Okolo surpassed 300 kills in her Matador career. Okolo opens the week with 303 kills while hitting .256 on 716 swings in her career ... Junior setter Taylor Dunlap handed out a career-high 32 assists in Thursday's 3-1 win at San Francisco ... The Matadors have yet to play a 3-set match this season and are now 6-1 in 4-set matches and 1-3 in five sets.
CSUN HEAD COACH AQUILES MONTOYA
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 matches at Cal Poly and UCSB, CSUN completes a stretch of 10 of 11 road matches next week at Cal State Bakersfield on Oct. 2. The Matadors then return home for the first time since Sept. 13, when they host Hawai'i on Oct. 4.
#GoMatadors
