California State University Northridge Athletics
California State University at Northridge
Long Beach State
CSUN Hosts Long Beach State, Cal State Fullerton in Big West Play
9/30/2026 12:46:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
CSUNÂ THIS WEEK:
MATCH #13Â (BIG WEST #3)
Long Beach State (10-2, 2-0) @Â CSUN Matadors (4-8, 0-2)
Friday, Oct. 2, 2026Â - 6Â p.m. PT
Premier America Credit Union Arena - Northridge, Calif.
ESPN+Â Â //Â Live Stats
MATCH #14 (BIG WEST #4)
Cal State Fullerton Titans @ CSUN Matadors
Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026Â - 4Â p.m. PT
Premier America Credit Union Arena - Northridge, Calif.
ESPN+Â Â //Â Live Stats
In-game X updates:Â @CSUNWVB
CSUN WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL MEDIA NOTES
FORÂ STARTERS
CSUN Women's Volleyball (4-8, 0-2 Big West) is back home this week for Big West matches against Long Beach State (10-2, 2-0 Big West) and Cal State Fullerton (5-10, 0-2 Big West). After opening the conference season on the road at UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly last week, the Matadors are back on the home floor where they sport a 3-1 record. CSUN dropped a pair of four-set matches on the Central Coast last week and looks to snap a four-match skid this week.
FOLLOW YOUR MATADORS
Both matches this week will stream live on ESPN+ and 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 OPPONENTS
Long Beach State (10-2, 2-0 Big West) brings a 10-match winning streak to Northridge on Friday. The Beach, who dropped a pair of matches to UCLA to open the season, have won 10 straight after opening Big West play with road wins over UC Irvine (3-0) and UC San Diego (3-1). Junior setter Madi Maxwell is the reigning Big West Defensive Player of the Week and has also won two Big West Setter of the Week honors this season. Sophomore OH Sidney Hamaker, who averages a team-high 3.67 kills per set, is coming off of a 19-kill, career-high six-ace outing at UC San Diego.
Series: Friday's match will be the 55th meeting all-time between CSUN and Long Beach State with the Beach holding a 40-14 lead in the series. The Matadors, who knocked off the Beach in five sets at home last season, are 10-17 all-time against Long Beach in Northridge.
Cal State Fullerton (5-10, 0-2 Big West) travels to Cal State Bakersfield on Friday before taking on the Matadors on Saturday. The Titans, who have dropped four straight matches since defeating Florida A&M on Sept. 18, opened the Big West season last week with a 3-0 loss at UC San Diego and a 3-1 loss at UC Irvine. Freshman OH Bella Risling leads Fullerton averaging 2.92 kills per set which ranks 12th in the Big West.
Series: Saturday's match is the 62nd meeting all-time between CSUN and Cal State Fullerton with the Matadors leading the all-time series, 46-15. CSUN has won four straight, sweeping the season series in each of the last two seasons. The Matadors have won 25 of the 30 all-time meetings between the two teams in Northridge.
CSUN IN CONFERENCE HOME OPENERS
The Matadors come into Friday's Big West home opener against Long Beach State with a 25-14 (.641) all-time record in 39 previous conference home openers. CSUN, which dropped its Big West home opener to Hawai'i last season, is 1-3 over its last four Big West home openers with the Matadors' last win coming over Cal State Bakersfield in 2022.
SENTES CLOSING ON CSUN CAREER DIGS RECORD
With 25 digs in two matches last week, senior libero Paige Sentes inched closer to the CSUN all-time digs record. With 1,403 career digs, Sentes remains second in program history and trails first place Cindy Ortiz (1,456) by only 53 digs heading into this week's matches. Sentes, who opened her senior season in eighth place with 1,196 digs, has a team-high 207 digs this season and has moved past Monica McFarland, Amy Hultner, Natalie Allen, Nadine Nickel, Kelley Hanson, and Katie Sato on the career digs chart. 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 on Oct. 11, 2025, Sentes became the 12th CSUN player to reach 1,000 digs in her career.
BIG WEST BLOCKING LEADERS RANK EIGHTH IN NCAA
Five weeks into the 2026 season, CSUN continues to lead the Big West in blocks per set. After opening Big West play as the conference leaders in opponent hitting percentage, digs per set, and blocks per set, the Matadors continue to lead the conference and rank eighth nationally this week averaging 2.89 blocks per set. Individually, senior Iye Okolo continues to lead the Big West in blocks per set at 1.43, followed by Tatiana Turgeon in third at 1.33. Sentes ranks second in digs per set at 4.22, while senior Hailey Brockway is second in kills per set (3.98), 14th in aces per set (0.33), and 16th in digs per set (2.48).
CSUN QUICK SETS
After becoming just the eighth player in CSUN history with 2,000 career assists, senior Katie Kolar added 68 assists to her career tally in two matches last week. Kolar now has 2,077 assists over 265 career sets and is now 76 assists away from Heather Hofmans (1995-96) and seventh place in program history ... With a season-high 46 assists and 10 digs at Cal Poly on Saturday, Kolar notched her team-leading fifth double-double of the season and 27th of her career. Brockway also has five double-doubles this season and is now eight kills away from 600 career kills as a Matador ... Senior Tatiana Turgeon notched a career-high 11 kills in consecutive matches last week. At UC Santa Barbara, Turgeon led CSUN with 11 kills, hitting .450 on 20 swings. She then added 11 kills on 21 attacks to hit .429 at Cal Poly.
UP NEXT
Following this week's Big West home opening matches against Long Beach State and Cal State Fullerton, the Matadors travel to UC Riverside and California Baptist next week (Oct. 9-10) before returning home for its second three-match homestand of the season from Oct. 16-23 when CSUN welcomes UC San Diego, UC Irvine, and Cal State Bakersfield to Premier America Credit Union Arena.
#GoMatadors
