The CSUN women’s volleyball team (4-8) had a mixed home-opening weekend with a loss to the Bulldogs of Fresno State and a win over the University of Portland.
CSUN vs. Fresno State
The Matadors were able to stretch the match against Fresno to five sets (22-25, 25-23, 23-25, 26-24, 15-8), at one point even gaining a 2-1 set advantage over the Bulldogs, but simply could not hold on in the fifth set Friday night at the Matadome.
“I thought we (played) well in certain aspects,” CSUN head coach Jeff Stork said. “(But not passing, though), which then carries over into other aspects. But we were battling well; we’re used to controlling teams on our block, but we had difficulty siding out off of the first contact.”
Angela Hupp once again led the team with another double-double (18 kills and 13 digs) in the loss against the Bulldogs. Following close behind was freshman Britney Graff, who knocked down 17 of her own kills and contributed two of the team’s total six aces.
In the first set, CSUN led twice by five at scores of 11-6 and 13-8 before FSU was able to gain some momentum and finally obtain the lead at 18-17. A couple of kills by Brittany Williams would bring the Matadors back in front 19-18. Then the Matadors went on 6-3 run to win the first set of the five-set affair.
Despite outhitting the Bulldogs (.333) in the second set, the Matadors (.385) were unable to go up 2-0 in the match.
In the fifth and decisive set the Matadors were never really able to gain control of the scoreboard, with Fresno taking a 12-2 lead. A late CSUN six-point rally brought the score to 14-8, but a Platt kill ended the match in favor of the Bulldogs.
Lacey Gera hit at .282 percent with 16 kills for the Bulldogs with Lauren Berger contributing 16 kills of her own. Kelly Mason led the Bulldogs in digs with 18.
“We schedule our matches to help with our RPI (rating percentage index),” Stork said of his team’s second five-set loss of the season. “We don’t want a cake walk. We learn more through competition letting us know what we need to work on. We (know) we have the ability to win.”
CSUN vs Portland
The match against Portland was slightly easier for the Matadors-they swept the Pilots in just three sets, 25-21, 25-12, 25-18. Hupp had a less-dominant game statistically with only nine kills, but Williams stepped up to lead the way with 12 kills to go along with four digs and three blocks. Williams was the only CSUN hitter to reach double digits.
The Matadors’ biggest run would come in the second set when the they outscored the Pilots 16-3 on their way to that 25-13 win.
In the third set, both teams traded leads, but a combination of effective Matador hitting and Pilot errors propelled CSUN to the 25-18 win.
Kate Bostwick had five kills for the Pilots and Maria Clemens had four, while her sister Jessica contributed seven digs.
“We (definitely) played better than the night before,” Stork said. “We changed the line up a little and it changes the morale of the team, but we don’t know if the change will be consistent.”
