Despite going winless in their last three matches, the Matadors returned home to deliver the win in comeback fashion to give their seniors a night to remember.
CSUN (9-18, 4-12) defeated UC Riverside (9-20, 4-12) in five sets on Saturday in a back and forth matchup that saw the Matadors cap off their final home game of the season with a win.
It’s been an up and down year for head coach Aquiles Montoya and the women’s volleyball program. But in a game where the team celebrated seniors Layla Cederlind and Autumn Rojelio the Matadors had all the makings for Saturday’s game to be memorable.
The Matadors opened the game winning the first set 25-22 over the highlanders but found themselves down 1-2 after CSUN dropped the second and third set, 20-25 and 28-30.
Facing defeat and what would be their fourth loss in a row, Montoya in between sets stressed the importance of confidence especially in moments where the team needs to capitalize.
“Talk about owning their job. We kind of just drilled it into them,” Montoya said. “I feel like at times, especially last week against Cal Poly, we did it for some of the time but not all the time. So it’s just really about doing their job and owning that, but then having confidence in themselves and each other.”
Coming out of the huddle and into the fourth set, the Matadors came out swinging. CSUN took an early 9-6 lead before extending the score to 12-7 after an Amaris Smith kill. Smith would lead the team with 23 kills by the end of the night, her best offensive effort since a 23 kill match against San Francisco St. earlier in the season.
After an attacking error from Riverside’s Sydnee Rowe, which was blocked by Iye Okolo and Smith. The Matadors found themselves within a set point. With a nine point lead at 24-15, a kill hit by Smith would win the fourth 25-15 and allow CSUN to force a fifth and final set and bring them one step closer to completing the comeback.
Montoya expressed that after the third set he was confident in his team to get the job done, noting how his team has responded in terms of how they’ve dealt with losing tight sets in prior games.
“It’s been really hard, especially as of late, when we’ve lost those really tight sets. So to come back and see a response, we really saw that,” Montoya said. “Lost the [third] set 28 to 30 and ended up coming back and just really having our way with Riverside.”
And had their way they did. Despite an initial back and forth lead change in the early stages of the fifth set, the Matadors would win the set. Scoring three of the final four points CSUN would win the last set 15-8 to win the game over UC Riverside.
“All our matches that we’ve been losing as of late have been really close sets. So it was really nice, especially for our seniors, Autumn and Layla, to get that victory in the fashion that we did,” Montoya said.
After the game Montoya ended with how his team has a family dynamic and how much Saturday’s home win meant to the team and to those leaving.
“It was a high emotion after that match. Some tears were flowing from some of them,” Montoya said. “This season had a lot of heartbreak, a lot of really close sets. And I’m glad that we could do that in front of our home fans, but also for them, in their last experience playing in that gym in front of the home crowd.”
CSUN will finish out the rest of the 2024 season on the road taking on UC San Diego in La Jolla on Friday before visiting Long Beach St on Saturday. Both games will be available for streaming on ESPN+.
