Nov. 18, 2008

Weekly Match Notes in PDF Format

NORTHRIDGE WRAPS UP 2008 SEASON HOSTING No. 23 LONG BEACH STATE ON SENIOR NIGHT Cal State Northridge (8-21, 2-13 Big West) puts a lid on the 2008 season Friday night as the Matadors host No. 23 Long Beach State (23-4, 12-2 Big West) in The Matadome at 7 p.m. Prior to the match, Northridge will honor its five seniors (Kelley Hanson, Amy Hultner, Val Kepler, Jenn Probert and Kayla Wright) in a brief pre-match ceremony. The Matadors, a disappointing 1-8 at home this season, trail 18-4 in the all-time series with the 49ers and are 2-8 against Long Beach State in 10 matches in The Matadome.

NORTHRIDGE ON THE NET The Cal State Northridge-Long Beach State match will be available via Gametracker at GoMatadors.com and will also be available via live video streaming at BigWest.TV. Get exclusive coverage of Big West Conference action by logging on to BigWest.TV! Now in it's fourth year, BigWest.TV gives fans on-demand access to Big West sports as well as press conferences, features and Big West Conference Championships. If you can't make it to the gym or the field, head to www.BigWest.TV to catch up on your favorite team!

MATADORS WRAP UP ROAD SEASON WITH THREE-SET SWEEP OVER UC DAVIS Junior Angela Hupp pounded a match-high 15 kills and sophomore Siara Grayson added 13 as Cal State Northridge claimed its final road contest of 2008 with a 25-20, 25-22, 25-20 over UC Davis Saturday at The Pavilion. Seven of Northridge's eight wins this season have come on the road and the three-set sweep was the Matadors' first since Sept. 12 against Montana. Hupp hit .250 on her way to 15 kills and also added six digs, four blocks, three assists and one ace. The junior had 18.0 of the Matadors' 54.0 points. Grayson had 13 kills while hitting .182 and added one ace and five digs. Senior Val Kepler added six kills (.417) and freshman Puneet Pataria came off the bench to record five kills (.160), two digs and one block. Libero Kelley Hanson posted a team-high 13 digs and setter Sam Orlandini had 34 assists and nine digs.

HANSON TAKES OVER AS CAREER DIGS LEADER With her seventh dig in Friday's match at Pacific, senior libero Kelley Hanson became Cal State Northridge's leader in career digs. Hanson wound up with 14 digs in the match and added 13 the next night at UC Davis to give her a team-high 352 digs in 2008. Adding that to her three-year total of 937 and she takes 1,289 career digs into her final match against Long Beach State on Friday. Hanson posted 227 digs as a freshman, a career-best 427 as a sophomore and 283 as a junior. She came into Friday's match at Pacific trailing Nadine Nickel (1,268 digs from 2001-04) by six digs. Amy Hultner is also climbing up he career digs list as she now has 1,218 digs which is good for third place behind Nickel.

MATADORS ENJOY FIRST SWEEP IN TWO MONTHS The Matadors have not had many opportunities to enjoy a three-set sweep this season. Despite sweeping two of its first four opponents this season (Seattle University, Sacramento State), Northridge's last three-set sweep came over Montana on Sept. 12. That meant 20 matches and just over two months came and went before the Matadors dealt UC Davis the three-set whitewashing last Saturday. Northridge is now 4-11 this season in three-set matches and has the same 2-5 record in both four-sets and five sets.

HULTNER REACHES ACES MILESTONE Senior Amy Hultner picked up one ace at UC Davis last Saturday and it was a historic one, the 100th of her Matador career. She becomes just the fifth player in Northridge women's volleyball history to reach 100 career aces. Dawn Krenik is the career leader with 129 from 1990-92, Nickel had 124 from 2001-04, Patty Fitzsimmons is third with 108 from 1989-92 and Franci Bowman had 105 from 1985-88.

GRAYSON REMAINS IN BIG WEST TOP-10 IN ACES After being out of the Big West top-10 in aces per set for the first time this season, sophomore Siara Grayson remained fourth this week for the second straight week after serving up a pair of aces in two matches last week. The previous week, Grayson fired a career-high seven aces at Cal State Bakersfield (to go with 16 kills and 10 digs for her first career double-double) and added two aces at Cal State Fullerton. Grayson now has a team-high 37 aces, 16 more than Amy Hultner and Angela Hupp who rank second on the Matadors with 21. With three aces in Northridge's final match against Long Beach State, Grayson would become the first Northridge player since Kristin Sigel in in 1997 to reach 40 aces in one season. Sigel had 42 aces during the 1997 season. Shelli (Mosby) Orlandini holds the single season Northridge record with 77 aces in 1984.

MORE CAREER RECORDS With just one match remaining in 2008, several Matadors have etched their names into the Northridge career record book. Hanson, in addition to digs, has moved into a tie for fifth in sets played (417) with Jessika Hammerich. Hultner, with 415, is currently sixth in sets played and remains fifth in service aces (100). Fellow senior Val Kepler, Cal State Northridge's all-time leader in block assists with 405, moved into second place in total blocks (445) and remains ninth in sets played (405). Senior Kayla Wright also remains third in career assists with 2,381 and is 11th in career aces with 92. Junior Angela Hupp , on the verge of entering the top-10 in several career categories, moved into ninth place in career assists with 1,297. Sophomore Lynda Morales already ranks seventh in career block assists with 237 in just two seasons.

NORTHRIDGE NOTES Siara Grayson has established new career-highs in sets played (108), kills (243), total attacks (742), aces (37), digs (194) and blocks (28) already this season ... the Matadors are looking for their second home against Long Beach State on Friday. Only once in the 33-year history of Northridge women's volleyball have the Matadors won just a single home match. The 1995 squad finished 1-8 in The Matadome on their way to a 2-29 overall record.

SCOUTING LONG BEACH STATE The 23rd-ranked 49ers (23-4, 12-2 Big West) bring a nine-match winning streak into Friday's match in The Matadome. Long Beach State's only two Big West losses came at Pacific and at UC Irvine. Freshman OH Caitlin Ledoux leads the 49ers with 329 kills (3.19 kps) which ranks 10th in the Big West. Senior OH Quincy Verdin adds 3.15 kills/set and setter Nicole Vargas has led Long Beach State to a .250 hitting clip. Head coach Brian Gimmillaro (Long Beach State, 1970) is in his 24th season with the 49ers and sports a 653-152 career and school record.

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