Matadors Fall to UC Irvine in Five-Set Thriller

Friday, October 27

Northridge, Calif.

7:00 p.m.

California State University at Northridge

10-12, 4-6BWC

UC Irvine

19-3, 7-2BWC

Team	1	2	3	4	5	Final F
UC Irvine	25	22	25	21	15	3
CSUN	21	25	20	25	12	2

Photo by: Paul Trafecanty

Matadors Fall to UC Irvine in Five-Set Thriller

10/27/2017 10:57:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

NORTHRIDGE, CA - Junior Aeryn Owens pounded a match-high 24 kills, including the 1,000th of her CSUN career, but the Matadors dropped a five-set decision to the visiting UC Irvine Anteaters Friday at The Matadome.

The Anteaters held off the Matadors 25-21, 22-25, 25-20, 21-25, 15-12 as CSUN slipped to 10-12 overall and 4-6 in the Big West.

Owens, who hit .385 on 52 swings, became the 13th player in CSUN history to reach the historic plateau while also adding a team-high 15 digs for her 10th double-double of the season. She came into Friday's match needing 12 kills to add her name into the CSUN record books and accomplished the feat early in the third set.

Sophomore Morgan Salone also reached double figures with 12 kills (.171) while Nickeisha Williams added nine kills (.286).

"It was an offensive battle tonight, I thought it was a well played match with a lot of emotion" said CSUN head coach Jeff Stork. "As discouraging as it is to come up short, it certainly was a lot more encouraging than the two matches last week."

CSUN led by as many as four points (8-4) in the first set before UCI battled back to knot the score at eight and ultimately taking a 16-13 lead. Kristey Markle served one of her two aces to pull the Matadors even at 18-18, but the Anteaters tallied two straight 20-18 and would go on to take the set 25-21.

CSUN jumped out to a quick start in the second set, claiming eight of the first 11 points. The Matadors then had to hold off a late UCI charge but an Owens kill and a Anteater hitting sent CSUN to the 25-22 win.

After the two teams traded wins over the next two sets, the match would come down to the fifth set where the Matadors came in 2-3 and UCI was 2-0.

After a series of sideouts, the Anteaters opened up a mini 8-6 lead when Lauren Conati's attack from the setter spot was stuffed. But a kill from Salone followed by the second of Markle's aces pulled CSUN even.

The visitors then snapped a 10-10 tie after getting consecutive kills from Harlee Kekauoha and Makayla Wolfe. The Matadors then got within one at 12-11 and again at 13-12 before UCI took advantage of a pair of CSUN hitting errors to pull out the 15-12 win.

Kekauoha led UC Irvine (19-3, 7-2) with 18 kills on .405 hitting, one of four Anteater hitters with double figure kill totals.

The Matadors are back in action Saturday night as CSUN hosts UC Davis at 7 p.m. The match will be streamed live on ESPN3.

#GoMatadors