The Matadors had their brooms out at the Matadome over the weekend.
The CSUN women’s volleyball team wrapped up the season by sweeping both of its matches in the Fremont Investment and Loan Invitational. The host Matadors beat the Fairfield Stags 30-28, 30-19, 30-16 on Friday and followed up on Saturday with a win against the Idaho Vandals 30-25, 30-26, 30-19.
“It’s nice to have victories at the end (of the season) when it doesn’t mean anything,” said head coach Jeff Stork. “You get to see the heart of the players when the importance of the win is significantly reduced by not making the playoffs. It’s more on the pride side.”
Northridge showed solid hitting in Friday’s match against Fairfield, with three Matadors reaching double-digits in kills. Junior Val Kepler led the CSUN offense, knocking down 13 kills while hitting a season-high .684. Kepler also had nine blocks and two digs in the match. Sophomore Angela Hupp had 12 kills, along with eight blocks and four digs while hitting .286. Freshman Brittany Williams knocked down 11 kills and hit .417.
Setter Kayla Wright also had a good performance with 42 assists and 10 digs for a double-double. Libero Amy Hultner had 17 digs in the match.
For the Stags, Katie Mann led the team with 10 kills while hitting .368. Kelly Oliver followed with eight kills, while Lauren Wagner knocked down five kills. Oliver also had 13 digs and two blocks in the match.
As a team, the Matadors hit .289 to the Stag’s .101. CSUN also had six service aces to Fairfield’s one, and the Matadors out blocked the Stags 12.5 to two.
On Saturday it was Hupp leading the Matadors with 16 kills, six digs and two blocks. Lynda Morales followed with nine kills, while freshmen Alex Johnson and Williams each knocked down eight kills. Morales also had three blocks and Johnson added 10 digs in the match. Setter Kayla Wright had 37 assists, eight digs, three kills and three service aces for the night.
Vandal Hayley Larsen had 18 kills while hitting .327 to lead all players. Sarah Loney followed with seven kills, while Anna McKinney and Kelsey Taylor had five kills each. Jamie Richards had 12 digs and Kelsey James had 10 digs along with 32 assists for a double-double.
The Matadors outhit the Vandals .281 to .175 and had six service aces to Idaho’s two. The Vandals out blocked CSUN, 9.0 to 8.5.
“We got solid play out of most everybody,” Stork said. “It was a good way to wrap up the season.”
Other tournament action included wins by Cal State Fullerton on Friday against Idaho 30-26, 30-27, 30-22 and against Fairfield on Saturday 30-22, 30-23, 30-28.
Both CSUN and Cal State Fullerton were 2-0 in the tournament, while Fairfield and Idaho were both 0-2.
