After finishing 9-23 overall in the season and 4-16 in the Big West, the women’s volleyball team finished the 2022 season with a lot to build upon. And with only two graduating seniors that year, the team is looking to bounce back this season with many team members returning for a push for the Big West title.

Women’s volleyball coach John Price spoke about the beginning of the season and the expectations of the team.

“We got a lot of matches prior to the start of the conference and our goal is to get to that conference tournament and we’ll use the next four weeks to prepare for the conference before our first game against Bakersfield,” Price said.

This year, CSUN has nine returning members from the 2022 team, such as middle blockers Tatiana Turgeon and Iye Okolo, who are redshirted for the 2023 season.

With the additions of key transfers of Perri Starkey from UC Davis, Leah Miller from Arizona State University, and Kelsey Knudsen, who is a graduate transfer from Brigham Young University, along with a freshman class consisting of Taylor Dunlap, Madison DiGiorgio and Paige Sentes, the team is looking forward to going into the next season with these new faces.

“They have all fit in really well and all have played at a high level, and we’re excited to have them on the team,” Price said. He went on to add, “Dunlap is one of our centers and she has done a nice job for a freshman; Sentes has also done a nice job, and for first-year freshmen, they have both been very impressive with their place so far,” Price added.

On Wednesday night CSUN hosted Fresno State for their home opener where the Matadors swept the Bulldogs in 3 sets. This would be their first win of the season after losing the first three games of the season against Santa Clara University, San Jose State University and California Baptist.

CSUN will then travel to Fresno State for the team’s non-conference schedule, and will finally go to Portland for a tournament where they’ll face off against Eastern Washington University, Portland University, and Wyoming University on Sept. 8 and 9.

Prior to the Big West campaign, the Matadors will conclude its non-conference portion of the season, where they will travel up to the Bay Area for the USF Challenge with matchups against University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, San Jose State and San Francisco State on Sept. 15 and 16.

On Sept. 19, CSUN will open its Big West season against CSU Bakersfield and University of Hawaii on Sept. 24. The Matadors will then host four straight Big West conference games against UC Riverside, UC Davis, UC San Diego, and Long Beach State University on Sept. 29 and 30 and Oct. 6 and 7, respectively. The rest of October will consist of road matches against CSU Fullerton and UC Irvine on Oct. 13 and 14 respectively. CSUN will then host Cal Polythechnic on Oct. 19, travel for a road game with UC Santa Barbara on Oct. 21 and finish with back-to-back home games against Bakersfield and Hawaii on Oct. 26 and 27.

The Matadors will find themselves mostly on the road in November, opening up the month with road games on Nov. 3 at Long Beach State, Nov. 4 at UC San Diego, Nov. 8 at UC Davis and Nov. 11 at UC Riverside. CSUN will then conclude its season at home with two matches against UC Irvine and Cal State Fullerton on Nov. 17 and 18, a week prior to the Big West Championship.