After finishing their last tournament with a 2-1 record, the Matadors took a step backwards going 1-2 at the San Jose State/Santa Clara tournament this weekend.
CSUN vs. Seattle University
The Matadors (3-6) started the tournament with a loss to Seattle University in five sets (19-25, 26-24, 25-17, 17-25, 15-17) at Spartan Gym in Friday’s doubleheader. CSUN was led by freshman opposite hitter Natalie Allen with 13 kills (.225) and outside hitter Monica McFarland with 16 digs.
The fifth set went back and forth with CSUN taking a 15-14 lead. The momentum shifted after a Seattle timeout, the Redhawks scored three straight points to win the set and the match.
CSUN hit .286 in the fifth set while Seattle hit .407.
“They are a good team,” head coach Jeff Stork said. “We couldn’t stop their left side attack in the fifth set.”
CSUN vs. Santa Clara
In the second match of Friday’s doubleheader the Matadors defeated Santa Clara in four sets, 3-1, at the Leavey Center (25-22, 25-22, 14-25, 25-23).
The Matadors were able to pull out a win in the fourth set with a 6-0 run to give them the lead, which they never relinquished.
“Sam’s (Orlandini) serves are what got us on the run,” Stork said. “Her serves had great accuracy.”
Orlandini had a team-high 42 assists and libero Cindy Ortiz led the team with 22 digs. McFarland, outside hitter Mahina Haina, and middle blocker Lynda Morales each had 12 kills for the Matadors.
CSUN hit .229 in set one and .267 in set two while holding Santa Clara under .200 in both sets. In the third and fourth sets, the Broncos hit .483 and .370 while CSUN hit .167 and .275.
CSUN vs. Portland State
After the win the Matadors could not get in a groove as they lost in straight sets (18-25, 19-25, 22-25) to Portland State at Spartan Gym on Saturday.
CSUN was led by Puneet Pataria with eight kills (.250) and McFarland with 10 digs. Orlandini added a team-high 28 assists. The Matadors had 23 attack errors compared to Portland State’s 11. CSUN hit under .200 each set while Portland State hit under .200 only in the third set.
“We passed extremely well but they were just a red-hot team,” Stork said. “We didn’t adjust to what they were doing.”
The Matadors next match is their home opener against No. 13 UCLA at the Matadome on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
