The Northridge women's volleyball team is still playing to win, needless to say. Despite being out of the race in the Big West Conference, Head Coach Jeff Stork is going to have the Matadors training hard and focused on the task at hand, which is traveling to Stockton and Davis to take on the Tigers and the Aggies Friday and Saturday respectively.

Professional athletes, for the most part, retire somewhere between the ages of 35-40. Comparing that to other professions, where the average age of retirement is 65-70, a discrepancy exists.

Don't let their overall record fool you, the Northridge women's volleyball team played decently against non-conference opponents this season.

Cal State Northridge plays its final stretch of road matches in 2008 beginning Thursday with a non-conference game at Cal State Bakersfield. Since 2007, the Matadors are 1-1 against them '- following a 13-year hiatus in the series. Earlier this season, the Roadrunners won these teams' last meeting in five sets at Northridge, where they were previously winless at 0-14.

UC Irvine is No. 3 in the Big West Conference standings, and probably on its way to the league's tournament. Northridge is last in the conference, and in all likelihood will not see a postseason.

The Northridge women's volleyball team plays two of its three remaining home matches this weekend as they take on conference foes UC Riverside Friday and UC Irvine Saturday. Both Highlanders and Anteaters defeated the Matadors earlier this season. The Anteaters beat CSUN in four sets on Oct. 3.

Riding high after winning their first conference win of the season, the Northridge women's volleyball squad faced off against the No. 1 team in the Big West, the Cal Poly Mustangs.

The Northridge women's volleyball team ended the first half of the conference season on the right note, defeating Pacific, breaking into the win column in Big West-play and snapping a 12-game losing streak.' It was Northridge's first home win of the 2008 season.

We watch sports because there is always a chance that something thrilling will happen: the last-second shot that wins the game, the potential game-winning drive with less than a minute to go, the walk-off grand slam in what once was a three-run deficit in the bottom of the ninth inning, the split millisecond that determines the difference between gold and silver medals. The list goes on, thankfully.

For the first time in a little over a month, the Northridge women's volleyball team had a reason to celebrate.

The Matadors continue Big West Conference play at home this weekend, taking on UC Davis and Pacific Friday and Saturday respectively. The Aggies are coming off losses to UC Riverside and UC Irvine, which brought up their streak of defeats to six consecutive matches. They too have yet to win a league contest this season after going 1-15 in conference play last year. The Tigers haven't fared well away from home and are 1-4 on the road.

By the time Cal State Fullerton star Brittany Moore left Saturday night's Big West Conference match at Northridge with a tweaked ankle, she had already done more than enough damage to the Matadors.