California State University Northridge Athletics
California State University at Northridge
LMU
CSUN Takes on LMU in Home-and-Home Series This Week
9/16/2026 12:45:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
CSUNÂ THIS WEEK:
MATCH #9
CSUN Matadors (4-4) @ LMU Lions (7-2)
Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026Â - 6Â p.m. PT
Gersten Pavilion - Los Angeles, Calif.
ESPN+Â Â //Â Live Stats
MATCH #10
LMU Lions @Â CSUN Matadors
Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026Â - 1Â p.m. PT
Premier America Credit Union Arena - Northridge, Calif.
Live Stats
In-game X updates:Â @CSUNWVB
CSUN WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL MEDIA NOTES
FORÂ STARTERS
CSUN Women's Volleyball (4-4, 0-0 Big West), riding a season-high three match winning streak, wraps up the none-conference portion of the 2026 season this week against the LMU Lions (7-2). The Matadors travel to Los Angeles on Thursday at 6 p.m., before hosting the Lions on Saturday at 1 p.m. CSUN opened the home season in impressive fashion last week, winning all three matches at the Linda Murphy Ridge Invitational. The Matadors topped UNLV (3-2), San Francisco (3-1) and Fresno State (3-0) to improve to 4-4.
FOLLOW YOUR MATADORS
Thursday's match at LMU will stream live on ESPN+ while Saturday's home match will be live stats only. All matches will have live stats, with links for all video streaming and live stats are available at GoMatadors.com. 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 OPPONENT
LMU (7-2) has won seven of its first nine matches to start the 2026 season. Thursday's match marks the home opener for the Lions, who are 2-2 on the road and 5-0 in neutral site matches this season. LMU is coming off a 2-1 week that saw the Lions top UC Irvine (3-2) and Brown (3-0) before falling in straight sets at Long Beach State. LMU was picked third in the West Coast Conference Preseason Coaches' Poll. Sophomore OHÂ
Maria Tabacuks has earned co-MVP honors at the Ole Miss Invitational and WCC Offensive Player of the Week recognition this season.
Series: The two matches this week will be the 36th and 37th all-time meetings between CSUN and LMU. In the series that dates back to 1979, the Lions hold an 18-17 edge in the series and have won the last six matches between the two teams. CSUN and LMU last met in September, 2021 with the Lions claiming a straight-set win at the Fresno State Invitational.
BROCKWAY NAMED BIG WEST OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
CSUN senior outside hitter Hailey Brockway was named Big West Offensive Player of the Week after leading the Matadors to the Linda Murphy Ridge Invitational championship over the weekend. Brockway, the tournament Most Valuable Player, averaged 4.75 kills per set as the Matadors evened their season record at 4-4 with wins over UNLV (3-2), San Francisco (3-1), and Fresno State (3-0). She becomes the second CSUN player to earn Player of the Week honors this season (Iye Okolo – Defensive on Aug. 31) and first CSUN player to earn Big West Offensive Player of the Week since Amaris Smith on Sept. 2, 2024.
In CSUN's home opening five-set win over UNLV, the senior from Graham, Wash., led CSUN with a match-high 19 kills, hitting .333 on 45 swings, while adding 11 digs, three service aces and three block assists. In Saturday's 3-1 win over San Francisco, Brockway posted a career-high 26 kills Saturday as the Matadors claimed a 25-23, 25-14, 23-25, 25-20 win. She hit a career-best .345 on 55 swings while adding eight digs, two service aces and a block assist for a match-high 28.5 points. Brockway's previous career-high was 25 kills against Central Arkansas on Aug. 30. In Sunday's 3-0 sweep over Fresno State, Brockway tied for match-high honors with 12 kills.
BIG WEST DEFENSIVE LEADERS RANK FIFTH IN NCAA IN BLOCKS
Three weeks into the season, CSUN leads the Big West in all three defensive categories. The Matadors lead the conference in opponent hitting percentage (.154), digs per set (15.22), and blocks per set (3.06). Individually, senior Iye Okolo leads the Big West in blocks per set at 1.72, followed by Tatiana Turgeon in second at 1.32. Senior libero Paige Sentes ranks second in digs per set at 4.13. As a team, CSUN ranks fifth in the nation in blocks per set at 3.06. CSUN trails James Madison (3.64), Colorado (3.38), Washington State (3.26), and Lehigh (3.21) on the national rankings list and holds a substantial lead over California Baptist (2.55) among Big West teams.
BLOTZER, SENTES, TURGEON ADD TO ALL-TOURNAMENT HONORS
After Tatiana Turgeon earned All-Tournament honors at the season opening Buffs Classic in Colorado, CSUN had two players (Brockway, Annie Gilmore) named to the Wildcat Classic in Kansas on Sept. 4-5. At last weekend's Linda Murphy Ridge Invitational, CSUN added more All-Tournament accolades as Brockway was named Most Valuable Player, while Sentes, Turgeon, and Fallyn Blotzer were named to the All-Tournament team.
SENTES, KOLAR MOVE UP CSUN CAREER CHARTS
With 45 digs in three matches last week, senior libero Paige Sentes moved into second place in program history with 1,328 career digs. Sentes, who opened her senior season in eighth place with 1,196 digs, has moved past Monica McFarland, Amy Hultner, Natalie Allen, Nadine Nickel, Kelley Hanson, and Katie Sato this season. Sentes moved past both Hanson (1,305) and Sato (1,318) last week and now trails first place Cindy Ortiz (1,456) by 128 digs. Ortiz (2009-12) holds the all-time CSUN and rally scoring era records with 1,456 digs, while Alexis Cormier (1998-01) holds the sideout scoring era record with 1,194 career digs. With her 10th dig in a 13-dig performance at UC Irvine (Oct. 11, 2025), Sentes became the 12th CSUN player to reach 1,000 digs in her career. With 73 assists last weekend, senior setter Katie Kolar upped her CSUN career assists total to 1,955 over 248 career sets. She opens this week in eighth place in program history and is now 198 assists away from Heather Hofmans (1995-96) and seventh place.
CSUN QUICK SETS
After hitting a combined .308 in three matches last weekend, Brockway increased her season hitting percentage from .171 to .224. With 122 kills this season, she has almost reached her season total (126) from an injury-filled 2025 season ... Senior setter Jan Marie Duhaylungsod scooped up a career-high 17 digs in CSUN's 3-2 win over UNLV. She added 18 assists for her first double-double of the season. Brockway leads the Matadors with five double-doubles this season, followed by Kolar with three, and Julia Bazylevych also has one ... CSUN improved to 24-22 all-time in home openers after defeating UNLV in five sets on Friday. The Matadors slipped to 21-25 all-time in season openers after falling to Colorado on Aug. 28.
UP NEXT
Following this week's two-match set with LMU, CSUN will open the Big West season with a two-match trip to UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly (Sept. 25-26).
#GoMatadors
