By james art CSUN THIS WEEK:
MATCH #22 (BIG WEST #11)
Cal State Fullerton Titans (4-16, 0-10 Big West) @ CSUN Matadors (7-14, 2-8 Big West)
Friday, November 1, 2024 – 6:00 PM PT
Premier America Credit Union Arena – Northridge, CA.
ESPN+ // Live Stats
MATCH #23 (BIG WEST #12)
UC Irvine Anteaters @ CSUN Matadors
Saturday, November 2, 2024 – 5:00 PM PT
Premier America Credit Union Arena – Northridge, CA.
ESPN+ // Live Stats
X in-game updates: @CSUNWVB
CSUN WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL MEDIA NOTES
FOR A BEGINNING
The CSUN women’s volleyball team (7-14, 2-8 Big West) looks to get back in the win column this week as the Matadors open the second half of the Big West season at home against Cal State Fullerton and UC Irvine in Premier America Credit Union Arena. The Matadors are looking to snap a three-game skid after nearly pulling out their first win in Hawaii last Sunday. CSUN is 3-7 on its home floor this year and looks to take the season series with Cal State Fullerton after defeating the Titans in five sets on Oct. 5 in Fullerton.
FOLLOW YOUR MATADORS
Both games this week will be broadcast live on ESPN+ with live stats also available on GoMatadors.com. Fans can follow CSUN Matador women’s volleyball online at the official home of CSUN athletics, www.GoMatadors.com. Darren Preston handles the play-by-play on E+ with CSUN assistant volleyball coach Ryan Mason providing commentary on select matches. Fans are also encouraged to check out the CSUN Athletics Department’s official X feed (@GoMatadors) and volleyball specific feed (@CSUNWVB) for news and notes throughout the week, as well as updates on ongoing matches.
SCOUT THIS WEEK’S OPPONENTS
Cal State Fullerton (4-16, 0-10 Big West) lost its 10th and 11th straight games last week, falling at home to UC Riverside (3-2) and on the road at UC Davis (3-0). The Titans, 2-4 in road games this season, also travel to Cal State Bakersfield on Saturday. Bianca Martinez ranks seventh in the Big West in blocks at 0.97 per set, while Fullerton also ranks seventh as a team in blocks at 1.80 per set.
series: Friday’s game is the 59th all-time meeting between the Matadors and Titans, with CSUN leading the all-time series 43-15. The Matadors are 23-5 all-time against the Titans in Northridge. CSUN won the first meeting this season, winning in five sets at Titan Gym, giving the head coach Achilles Montoya his first career Big West win.
UC Irvine (12-9, 6-4 Big West) is 3-4 in its last seven games after splitting games against UC Davis at home (3-1) and away at UC Riverside (3-0) last week. The Anteaters, 6-2 on the road this year, rank 12th in the country in total blocks (229.5) and are 26th nationally in blocks average with a 2.64 mark. Senior Ofure Iselen leads the Big West with a 1.40 blocking average. She has totaled eight or more blocks four times this season.
series: Saturday’s game is the 67th meeting all-time between CSUN and UC Irvine, with the Anteaters leading the series 36-30. CSUN is 16-13 all-time in 29 games against UCI at Northridge. The Anteaters stormed back to win the final two sets in a 3-2 victory in Irvine on Oct. 4, UCI’s seventh straight in the series.
SENTES EXPANDS THE GREAT PRE-BEHAVIOR OF WESTERN DIGGERS
With 38 digs in two games last week — which included a Hawaii-high 28 — the sophomore libero Paige Centes extended her Big West lead in digs per set this week. Sentes, who leads all Big West liberos in total points with 353, raised her total score per set to 4.06 this week. Sentes extended her lead over UC Riverside’s Jessica Dean (3.90), Bakersfield’s Katerina Georgiadis (3.89) and UC Davis’ Julia Ng (3.85). With 22 or more digs in a game six times this season, including a career-high 31 in CSUN’s five-set win over San Francisco on Sept. 6, Sentes now has 587 digs in her Matador career.
THE GREAT WESTERN SECOND HALF OPENS THIS WEEK
Friday’s game against Cal State Fullerton opens the second half of the Big West season for the Matadors. At 2-8 in Big West play, CSUN is currently tied for ninth in the conference standings with eight games remaining. The Matadors start the week two games behind eighth-ranked Cal State Bakersfield (4-6) and four games behind four teams currently ranked fourth. Long Beach State, UC Irvine, UC San Diego and UC Santa Barbara are all 6-4 with UC Davis (9-1), Cal Poly (7-3) and Hawai’i (7-3) holding the top three spots . Only the top six teams will earn spots in the 2024 Outrigger Big West Championship, which will be held Nov. 27-30 at UCI’s Bren Center.
MATADORS IN THE WEST STAT GRAND CLASSIFICATION
In addition to Sentes, seven other CSUN players currently rank in the top 20 in the Big West statistical rankings. Katie Kolar ranks fourth in assists per set (9.98), 16th in rebounds per set (2.61) and 18th in aces per set (0.28), Amaris Smith ranks fifth in kills per set (3.52) and sixth in points per set. (3.85), Haley Brockway ranks sixth in kills per set (3.48) and fifth in points per set (3.89), Leah Miller ranks 16th in kills per set (2.67) and 20th in points per set (2.91), Autumn Rogelio ranks 13th in aces per set (0.31) and Centes is 20th with 0.26 aces per set. Tatyana Turgeon and Ie Okolo rank 12th and 14th respectively in blocks per set at 0.86 and 0.80. As a team. CSUN ranks fifth in the Big West in kills per set (14.62) and is sixth in kills (12.63), assists (11.82) and aces (1.47).
MATADOR FAST KITS
With four aces last week, Rogelio took the CSUN lead in aces with 26. Rogelio, who matched her season-high with three aces at Hawai’i, has at least one ace in 10 of the Matadors’ last 11 games… Julia Bazilevich had a season-high 13 kills on a season-high 35 attacks against Hawaii … Presley Nippert also came off the bench to record her first CSUN ace against Hawai’i on Sunday… The Matadors fell to 4-5 in nine five-set matches this season.
MONTOYA IN HIS FIRST SEASON AS CSUN HEAD COACH
Achilles Montoya was named the ninth head coach of the CSUN women’s volleyball program on April 10, 2024. Montoya comes to CSUN after spending the last four seasons as the associate head coach and director of recruiting at Portland State. He contributed to three consecutive Vikings student-athletes winning Big Sky Conference Newcomer honors. On the court, Portland State made back-to-back postseason appearances in 2021 and 2022, advancing to the National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC). The Vikings won their first-round game in 2021, giving Portland State its first national postseason victory in the program’s Division I 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 Seaman. The Vikings recorded winning seasons, both overall and in conference play, in each of Montoya’s last three seasons while reaching the Big Sky Championship Game in 2022, their first appearance since 2013. Prior to Portland State, Montoya spent the previous three seasons as the lead assistant for the Pacific Boxers varsity team. He helped the Boxers set program records for back-to-back wins in 2017 and 2018. The Boxers went 17-7 overall and 10-6 in the NCAA Division III Northwest Conference (NWC) in 2017, then topped the following year, while going 18-8 overall and 11-5 in NWC play.
LOOKING AHEAD
Following Saturday’s home game against UC Irvine, the Matadors will open the home regular season with road games at UC Santa Barbara (Nov. 8) and Cal Poly (Nov. 9). CSUN will play five of its final six regular season games on the road with the lone home game against UC Riverside on Nov. 16.
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