Big West Conf opener for Cal State Northridge

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NORTHRIDGE IN CONFERENCE OPENERS

The Matadors bring a record of 16-6 (.727) in conference openers into Thursday¡¯s match with UC Riverside. Northridge is an even better 19-3 (.864) in conference home openers dating back to 1978. Since joining the Big West in 2001, the Matadors are 2-3 in conference openers and are 2-2 in Big West openers under Jeff Stork. Northridge has won its last two conference openers, defeating Utah State in 2004 and Cal Poly last year.

Matadors prepare for conference play

Victor Flores

9/21/06

Hoping to ride off the momentum of the five-game road trip, in which the CSUN women's volleyball team won four out of five, the Matadors will look to continue their success at home today and Sept. 23.

Big West conference play kicks off Thursday with two matches followed by three matches over the weekend.

CSUN will begin conference play against the struggling UC Riverside Highlanders on Thursday followed by a match-up with a tough Cal State Fullerton Titans squad on Saturday.

The Matadors are eager to kick off conference play to see how they matchup against conference rivals.

Middle blocker Darla Donaldson, named Most Valuable Player of the SJSU Hyatt Invitational last weekend, leads the Matadors into conference play. Donaldson currently leads the Big West with a hitting percentage of .370. Donaldson also ranks third in blocks per game with a 1.35 average.

The Matadors will be looking for their first win at home. They went 0-2 in their first two home appearances when they hosted the Fremont Investment & Loan Invitational.

The Matadors hope to break the current two-win streak the Highlanders hold on them. The Highlanders are currently 1-10 on the season including a sweep by UNLV. The Rebels also swept the Matadors during the UNLV classic Sept. 9.

CSUN currently leads the series against UC Riverside with a record of 36-16.

Outside hitter Ashley Halperin will be a concern for the Matadors. Halperin is ranked third in kills per game in the Big West with an average of 3.64.

CSUN will follow up with the Titans, who are currently on a six-game winning streak, and come to Northridge with an 11-1 record on the season. The Matadors, however, will be looking to duplicate past performances against Fullerton, as they lead the series match-up 17-6 with an 11-0 record at home. CSUN defeated the Titans in their last meeting.

The Titans are currently ranked second in the conference in hitting average, posting a .229. Fullerton has also managed to keep opponents to a low .129 hitting average, a conference best.

Fullerton lines up with two players in the top 10 hitting percentage leaders in the Big West.

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Two young teams, Cal State Northridge and UC Riversided played their Big West conference opener two nights ago at CSUN's home court.

Both teams had freshmens/sophomores on the floor but the veteran team which was CSUN was sharper, played more consistent and less errors than UCR. Actually CSUN dominated all games especially the first and third game. UCR gave up lots of points to CSUN because their passing was awful, on the other hand CSUN served tough especially from their defense specialist Amy Hultner...actually the whole team served better than a couple of weeks ago. As for CSUN's offense the go to hitters that night were Darla Donaldson, Harmony Burdine and Angela Hupp - well I could be wrong but that's what I saw that night and the stats sheets may say something else.

What I like so far about this CSUN's team is that they did improve and the 6-2 offense seems to be working well for them.


September 21st 2006
Matadors Open Big West Play With 3-0 Win Over UC Riverside

NORTHRIDGE, Calif. - Sophomore Harmony Burdine knocked down a match-high 11 kills as Cal State Northridge defeated UC Riverside, 30-21, 30-27, 30-14 in the Big West opener for both teams Thursday night at The Matadome.

With the win, the Matadors improve to 7-4 overall and 1-0 in the Big West. The loss drops the Highlanders to 1-11 overall and 0-1 in conference play.

Burdine hit .320 on her way to the match-high 11 kills while Darla Donaldson added eight kills (.250) and Angela Hupp and Val Kepler each chipped in seven kills. Burdine also added eight digs and a pair of aces while Hupp, Kelley Hanson and Amy Hultner all recorded three aces for the Matadors, who had 12 aces as a team.

For Riverside, Ashley Halperin knocked down a team-high nine kills (.000) to go with 10 digs and Amy Read added seven kills (.263) and four blocks. Highlander setter Brittney Murrey recorded 22 assists and nine digs in the loss.

The Matadors, who hit .193 (40-18-114) as a team, held Riverside to a .000 (26-26-101) hitting clip for the match. The Highlanders did post a 12.0 to 6.0 advantage in team blocks and had a slight 44-39 advantage in team digs.

In game one, Northridge scored the first point on a Halperin service error and never trailed. With the score 16-10, the Matadors scored five straight points to go on top 21-10. Northridge built its biggest lead at 25-11 before the Highlanders scored eight of the next nine points to pull within seven at 26-19. But Northridge got a pair of kills from Donaldson down the stretch and took game one 30-21.

Game two went back and forth as both teams held the lead until 18-18 when the Matadors used a Hilary Brinkman kill and a Burdine ace to take a 20-18 lead. UCR again knotted the score at 24-24 after a Halperin kill but the Matadors took back the lead after a Read hitting error and held on for the 30-27 win.

Game three was all Northridge as the Matadors jumped out to a 12-2 lead which ultimately grew to 22-9. The Highlanders won the next two points to get to 22-11 but that was as close as they would get in the final game as Northridge closed out the game 30-14 and the match 3-0.

Cal State Northridge concludes its brief two-match homestand on Saturday as the Matadors take on Cal State Fullerton at 7 p.m.