The Matadors are back at the Matadome after a brutal three-match road trip. They will host Cal State Fullerton Saturday night as the conference season keeps rolling along.

For what's it worth, Northridge women's volleyball team played a good match. But given the circumstances, they needed to play great.

The Matadors (5-12, 0-4 Big West Conference) will look to snap its nine-match losing streak and get back to their winning ways of the beginning of the season tonight. Long Beach State (11-3, 1-1) are well-rested. Their last match came almost two weeks ago when they defeated UC Davis in five sets.

A losing streak only ends with a victory. Simple enough. But sometimes, these streaks tend to get in players' heads and affect the team's play negatively. It's almost as if they don't want to go away.

How's this for irony. Cal State Bakersfield had never defeated the Matadors at Northridge (0-14). That was until the Roadrunners went into the Matadome Tuesday night and came out victorious in five sets.?

Before the Northridge women's volleyball team hits the road for three crucial conference matches against UC Irvine, UC Riverside, and Long Beach State, they have a non-conference opponent to worry about.

The scenario was advantageous for the Northridge women's volleyball team. They were home for their first two league matches.

In the four tournaments Northridge competed in, head coach Jeff Stork and his staff tried to find the right lineup, worked on the fundamentals and played to win every match against tough, non-conference opponents.

It's hard not to think back to the 2002 season. That team started the season winning four of its first six games, but faltered and finished the season below .500. It also happened to be the first year Jeff Stork took reigns as head coach of the Northridge women's volleyball team.

The Northridge women's volleyball team's coaches are not thinking too far ahead and they surely aren't thinking about the past. Their minds are solely on the two teams they must beat next.

The Matadors knew what to expect. Leading up to their match with fourth-ranked UCLA, the Northridge women's volleyball team watched enough film and read enough notes to get a precise scouting report on the Bruins. It was just a matter of executing.

The tenth game of the season will arguably be the CSUN women's volleyball team's biggest one. It will also mark the first time in 2008 that Northridge plays on its home court.