California State University Northridge Athletics
2025-26 Top CSUN Moments - Women's Volleyball Earns Postseason Berth in 2025
8/5/2026 7:55:00 AM | General, Women's Volleyball
From July 6 to August 7, GoMatadors.com will present the top CSUN Moments from the 2025-26 sports season. Today, we celebrate the CSUN Women's Volleyball team as the Matadors earned a berth in Outrigger Big West Volleyball Championship for the first time.
In 2025, the CSUN Women's Volleyball team returned to the postseason for the first time in 12 years, earning the No. 5 seed in the 2025 Outrigger Big West Women's Volleyball Championship. Under second-year head coach Aquiles Montoya, the Matadors finished with a 17-13 overall record and placed fifth in the Big West with a 10-8 conference mark.
In his first two seasons with the program, Montoya has led the Matadors to 27 wins, the best two-year total since Jeff Stork also won 27 matches in 2014 and 2015. After leading CSUN to a 10-19 overall record in his first season (2024), Montoya guided the Matadors to a 17-13 overall record in his second campaign. CSUN's 17 wins in 2025 were the program's highest total since Stork won 19 in 2014.
CSUN reached double figures in wins for the second consecutive season and also won 10 Big West matches, matching the program's best conference wins total since 2014. The Matadors earned a berth in the Outrigger Big West Women's Volleyball Championship for the first time in the postseason event's three years of existence.
The Matadors' appearance in the postseason in 2025 marked their first in 12 seasons. CSUN's last postseason appearance was a memorable one, as the Matadors reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament in 2013 after upsetting Colorado State in five sets in the first round.
No stranger to the postseason, the Matadors have made 23 postseason appearances dating back to their first in 1979. Since jumping to Div. I level in 1990, CSUN made 12 postseason appearances, winning the Big Sky Conference championship in 1996 and finishing second in 1999.
CSUN received some impressive individual performances in 2025. With a team-high 494 digs last season, including a season-high 27 in CSUN's 3-2 win at UC Riverside on Nov. 22, junior libero Paige Sentes moved into eighth place in CSUN history with 1,196 career digs. Sentes, averaging 3.43 digs per set over 349 sets in her career, moved past Dawn Krenik, Jessika Hammerich, and Alexis Cormier last season. With her 10th dig in a 13-dig performance at UC Irvine on Oct. 11, Sentes became the 12th CSUN player to reach 1,000 digs in her career.
Sentes was named Big West Defensive Player of the Week on Sept. 1 and Sept. 22, while junior setter Katie Kolar earned Big West Setter of the Week on Sept. 1.
CSUN had two selections on the 2025 All-Big West Volleyball Team as senior opposite Leah Miller was named second-team and middle/opposite Hayley Ogden earned honorable mention accolades.
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