California State University at Northridge
Eastern Washington
CSUN Takes Undefeated Record to Portland Invitational
9/3/2025 1:25:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
CSUNÂ THIS WEEK - PORTLANDÂ INVITATIONAL:
MATCH #1 (SEASON MATCH #4)
Eastern Washington (0-3) vs. CSUN Matadors (3-0)
Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025Â - 12:00 p.m. PT
Chiles Center - Portland, Ore.
Live Stats  // YouTube
MATCH #2Â (SEASON MATCH #5)
Colorado State Rams vs. CSUN Matadors
Friday, Sept. 5, 2025Â - 12:00Â p.m. PT
Chiles Center - Portland, Ore.
Live Stats // YouTube
MATCH #3Â (SEASON MATCH #6)
CSUN Matadors @ Portland Pilots
Saturday, Sept. 6, 2025Â - 1:00Â p.m. PT
Chiles Center - Portland, Ore.
Live Stats // ESPN+
In-game X updates:Â @CSUNWVB
CSUN WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL MEDIA NOTES
FORÂ STARTERS
Coming off an undefeated weekend that culminated with a Ridge Invitational title, the CSUN women's volleyball team (3-0, 0-0 Big West) heads out on the road for the first time this season, traveling to the Portland Invitational. The tournament opens Thursday with the Matadors taking on former Big Sky rival Eastern Washington at noon. CSUN continues tournament play against Colorado State on Friday at noon, before concluding the week against the host Pilots on Saturday at 1 p.m.
FOLLOW YOUR MATADORS
CSUN's match against Portland on Saturday will stream live on ESPN+, while the Matadors' other two matches will stream on YouTube. Live stats will be available at GoMatadors.com. Darren Preston returns to call CSUN Volleyball home matches 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 PORTLAND INVITATIONAL FIELD
Eastern Washington (0-3) opened the season with three losses at the UC San Diego Invitational last weekend. The Eagles fell to New Mexico State (3-1), UC San Diego (3-0), and Northwestern (3-0). EWU is led by redshirt junior Erin McInnes, who is averaging 2.10 kills per set through 10 sets this season. The Eagles come into this week hitting .048 as a team through three matches.
Series: Thursday's match is the 18th meeting all-time between the Matadors and Eagles, with Eastern Washington holding a 12-5 lead in the all-time series. The two teams were rivals in the Big Sky Conference from 1996-2000.
Colorado State (1-2) opened the season with a 3-0 sweep over Colgate before falling to Washington in five sets. The Rams, who dropped a 3-2 decision at Northern Colorado on Tuesday, were predicted to finish second in the Mountain West Preseason Coaches' Poll, just behind Utah State. CSU received 106 points and even picked up a few first-place votes.
Series: Friday's match is the seventh meeting all time between CSUN and Colorado State, with the Rams holding a 4-2 edge in the series. The last time the two teams met was in 2013 when CSUN knocked off Colorado State in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament at USC's Galen Center.
Portland (3-0) opens the week with a Wednesday match at Oregon (RV) before hosting the Portland Invitational this weekend. The Pilots are off to a 3-0 start, sweeping all three matches at the Vandal Invitational in Moscow, Idaho last weekend. In the opener against Cal State Fullerton, Maui Robins led the team with a double-double (10 kills, 10 digs), while Lucia Busso and Elin Larsson each notched 12 kills.
Series: Saturday's match is the 10th meeting all-time between CSUN and Portland, with the Matadors holding a slim 5-4 edge in the series. CSUN snapped a four-match skid against the Pilots with a pair of wins in Northridge last season.
KOLAR, SENTES EARN PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONORS
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
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 QUICK SETS
This week's Portland Invitational marks a homecoming of sorts for Aquiles Montoya, who served as Technical Coordinator at Portland in 2017 and was Associate Head Coach and Recruiting Coordinator at Portland State from 2020-24 ... Senior Leah MIller was named Ridge Invitational MVP after leading the Matadors 36 kills in three matches. Miller went on to hit .316 on 79 swings. In addition to Sentes, Iye Okolo was named to the All-Tournament team after hitting .444 with 29 kills and just five errors on 54 attacks. Okolo leads the Big West in hitting after the opening week of play ... Several Matadors set career-highs at the Ridge Invitational; Okolo connected for a career-high 13 kills against Pacific while taking a career-high 22 swings. Julia Bazylevych matched her career-high in kills (14), attacks (39), and digs (10) against CBU, while also setting new career highs in aces (3). Kolar also set a new career-high with seven kills on 16 swings against Idaho State ... The weekend also saw the CSUN debut for junior Jan Marie Duhaylungsod, sophomore Hayley Ogden, and freshman Saniyah Sobers ... Thursday's match against Eastern Washington opens up a stretch where CSUN will play 10 of its next 11 matches on the road. Following this week's Portland Invitational, the Matadors will travel to Fresno for a neutral site match against Santa Clara on Sept. 11, before returning home to host Lipscomb on Sept. 13 ... CSUN improved to 21-24 (.467) all-time in season-openers with Friday's 3-2 win over Idaho State. The win also snapped the Matadors' nine-match skid in season openers dating back to 2015 ... The last time CSUN opened a season at home was 2005, when the Matadors hosted Arizona State as part of the Fremont Investment & Loan Invitational.
CSUN HEAD COACH AQUILES MONTOYAÂ
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 this week's Portland Invitational, the Matadors will travel to Fresno to take on Santa Clara (Sept. 11) before returning home to host Lipscomb on Sept. 13. CSUN then returns to Fresno to meet the host Bulldogs on Sept. 14.
#GoMatadors
