Following their tournament-opening loss at the Days Inn and Suites Lobo Invitational, CSUN (1-11) fell to Louisiana State University and Long Island University Brooklyn. The Matadors were swept by LSU 25-21, 25-21, 31-29 and fell three sets to one against LIU (25-20, 25-11, 19-25, 25-14 ) at the WisePies Arena in Albuque, New Mexico on Saturday.
In the first set against LSU (3-7), there were 13 tie scores and eight lead changes. With the set nodded at 20-20, the Tigers had tied the game for a final time and took advantage of a Matador attack error, followed by their own service ace to take a 22-20 lead. Freshman outside hitter Aeryn Owens fought back with a kill, but LSU took a final three point run to win the set.
The Matadors were leading the first half of the second set until LSU tied it up at 13-13. From that point on, the Tigers didn’t look back, winning 25-21.
The final set brought 15 tie scores, eight of them after the scores had reached 20. Coming from behind, CSUN tied the score at 22 with a kill from junior middle back Stephanie Serna Arreola. LSU took one back with a kill, then CSUN took two more with a kill from freshman setter Erin Indermill and a Tiger attack error making it 23-24 Matadors.
LSU answered with a kill and a CSUN attack error. The lead, now in the hands of LSU 25-24, was answered with a kill from senior outside hitter Cieana Stinson. Tied at 25, both the Tigers and Matadors took turns with the lead until 29-29 when LSU took the set with a kill and service ace.
Owens hit a team-high 10 kills (.158) with two blocks and one ace. Stinson added nine kills, while red-shirt freshman opposite hitter Nada Dragovic added eight kills (.200) with nine digs and one ace.
In LIU’s first win of the season, CSUN fell behind quickly in the first set trailing by as many as five points. A five point Matador run at 19-15, changed the game and put CSUN on top 19-20. Six consecutive points from LIU twin the set.
Set two was dominated by LIU. The Matadors were outhit -.074 to .500 and were unable to score more than 11 points. To counteract this, CSUN hit their best of the night in the third set (.190) and were victorious winning the match 25-19.
Though the Matadors were able to turn things around in the previous set, the fourth went to LIU. CSUN kept it close for the first half, but at 12-10 LIU took a 7-1 run that the Matadors were ultimately unable to recover from.
Stinson lead the Matadors with 11 kills (.024) while also putting up three of CSUN’s four solo blocks. Dragovic added eight kills (.154) and 13 digs, while Owens added seven kills (-.051) and eight digs. Indermill added another double-double to her record with 26 assists and 10 digs.
Following a tough non-conference slate, the Matadors begin their Big West season Friday Sep. 25 against UC Davis at 7 p.m. in the Matadome.
