California State University, Northridge Beach Volleyball opens the 2026 season Friday, Feb. 20, hosting Concordia Irvine at noon at the Matador Beach Volleyball Complex.

The Beach Volleyball Compex is located in the center of campus next to Matador Hall. The address for the university is 18111 Nordhoff St, Northridge, CA 91330.

The dual match opens CSUN’s 13th season of beach volleyball as well as the Jeff Hall era, as he takes over as head coach in 2026.

Concordia Irvine (0-0) also opens the 2026 season on Friday in Northridge. The Golden Eagles are coming off a record-breaking season, finishing 26-10 overall including a perfect 8-0 mark at home. CUI capped the year with a National Runner-Up at the AVCA Small College Beach Volleyball Championships. Jenny Griffith enters her sixth year as the head coach and has led the program to four consecutive seasons surpassing the 20-win mark. CUI returns a core group from 2025, including junior Gabrielle Reinking, Kelia Giusta, Ashley Rossi, and Olivia Medina.

Series: Friday’s opener is the 19th meeting all-time between the Matadors and Golden Eagles, dating back to the first dual in 2016. CSUN is 8-9 all-time against CUI, but is 7-5 against the Golden Eagles at home. CUI has won six straight duals against CSUN, winning twice in 2025, 2024, and 2023. The Matadors’ last win in the series came in the 2023 season-opening dual at home.

The Matadors open the 2026 campaign looking to continue the program’s upward trajectory. With a 3-1 win over Cal State Bakersfield in an elimination match at the 2025 Big West Beach Volleyball Championship on Apr. 25, the Matadors set a new program record with their 18th win of the season. The win for the Matadors capped a record-setting season for CSUN, which included freshman Hannah Heflin setting a new program record for individual wins. Heflin and pairs teammate Dylan Hall – along with Tia Mediola – were each named Honorable Mention All-Big West. Both Hall and Heflin were also named to the six-member All-Freshman Team.

With the core of the team back, attention now turns to 2026 where Hall will work with a solid group of 12 returners and seven newcomers in his first season at CSUN. In addition to Hall, Heflin, and Mendiola, CSUN welcomes back Julia Gunner, Natalia Brandlin, Alyssa Schuhlein, Rylie Sieben, Jill Rodig, Elena Gonzalez-Hughes, Ainsley Patrick, Maleya Miles, and Haley Coggins. Miles matched Mendiola with 19 individual wins in 2025, while Coggins (14) and Patrick (13) also posted double figures in wins last season.

The Matadors also welcome a host of newcomers on the 2026 roster, including Phoebe Constable (Clovis, Calif.), Kalli Sanchez (Clovis, Calif.), Daysha Halbert (Oceanside, Calif.), Ava Witter (Phoenix, Ariz.), Natalie Gilbert (Phoenix, Ariz.), Zaria Henderson (Fullerton, Calif.), and Ava Rogers (Fresno, Calif.) who will debut for CSUN Beach Volleyball this season. Four of the newcomers are freshmen, while Constable comes to CSUN from Fresno City College, Halbert joins from MiraCosta College, and Henderson transfers from Cal Poly after playing three seasons (2021-24) of indoor volleyball at UC San Diego.

Hall comes to CSUN after most recently coaching at the University of Hawai’i, where he built the Beach Bows’ program into a perennial national contender in his five-plus seasons as head coach. A two-time Big West Coach of the Year (2016, 2018), Hall is UH’s all-time winningest beach volleyball coach, posting a phenomenal 136-38 (.782) record from 2015-20. Under his leadership, the Rainbow Wahine captured three Big West titles, made five NCAA tournament appearances, reached two Final Fours, and earned a No. 1 national ranking for five weeks. He was named Big West Coach of the Year twice and coached six AVCA All-Americans and 22 all-conference selections.

Among Hall’s other highlights in his time at Hawai’i, he led the beach program to four NCAA Tournaments with a top-four finish in each appearance. He also led UH to a school-record 37 wins, a Big West title, and it’s second straight third-place NCAA finish in 2018. UH won 32 straight matches in 2018, a school record and the longest win streak in the nation that season. In 2015, he helped UH achieve its first ever No. 1 ranking, a program first. UH ended the season with a 17-1 regular season record and advanced to the quarterfinals of the AVCA National Championship.

CSUN wound up reaching the semifinals of the 2025 Big West Beach Championship, where the Matadors fell to top-seed Cal Poly to cap an 18-17 season. After pairing up for the first time against Utah on Mar. 7, Hall and Heflin went on to lead all CSUN pairs with an 18-7 overall record. The duo finished 5-5 playing at the No. 3 position, 9-2 at No. 5, and 4-0 at No. 5. After debuting with a straight-set win over the Utes on the No. 4 court, Hall and Heflin went on the win their first nine matches. The pair ultimately went on to win 15 of their first 17 matches before finishing the season 18-7. With 18 wins, the duo ranks tied for third for most wins in a single season in program history.

Heflin set the single-season program record with her 22nd win of the season against Cal State Bakersfield on Apr. 8, while Hall finished her first season with 20 wins, which ranks fifth for a single season in Matador history.

After an injury-shortened 2024 season, Mendiola came back to win 19 times during her senior season. Paired with Julia Bazylevych, the duo won 16 times, which ranked third among the Matadors. Mendiola finished the season 9-14 playing on the No. 2 court, 7-1 at No. 3, 1-1 at No. 4, and 2-0 at No. 5. In addition to her 16-13 record with Bazylevych, Mendiola finished 3-3 with Ainsley Patrick (0-2 at No. 2, 3-1 at No. 3).

CSUN has now had 27 beach volleyball players earn All-Big West honors since 2016, the first season the conference began sponsoring beach volleyball.

Cal Poly was selected as the preseason favorite in the 2026 Big West Beach Volleyball Preseason Coaches’ Poll, as voted on by the league’s head coaches. The Mustangs earned 35 total points and five first-place votes to secure the top spot in the poll.

Long Beach State was picked second with 32 points and collected the remaining two first-place votes, setting up what is expected to be a tightly contested race at the top of the conference standings.

Hawai’i was tabbed third with 26 points, followed by UC Davis in fourth with 20 points.

CSUN placed fifth with 15 points, while Cal State Bakersfield was selected sixth with 13 points. Sacramento State rounded out the poll in seventh place with six points.

“Preseason polls are a great motivator,” said Hall. “It’s a starting point, and we expect to finish better than predicted. We are excited to start our season, and with the preseason polls out, we know we are close to starting.”

Follow CSUN Matadors beach volleyball online at the official home of CSUN athletics, www.GoMatadors.com.

For road matches, related links to the match, including any live stats, audio and video, will be posted before the match on the beach volleyball schedule page of GoMatadors.com.

Fans are also encouraged to check the CSUN Athletics Department’s official X feed (@GoMatadors) and the beach volleyball-specific feed (@CSUNBeach) for news and notes throughout the week, as well as updates of matches in progress.