Mata digs Fairfield

Carsen Mata is the latest in a long line of talented volleyball players from Hawaii to rewrite the record books at Fairfield (Conn.) University.

Barring a last-minute commitment, she will be the last for at least a year.

The only player from Hawaii currently on the Fairfield women’s volleyball team, Mata, a fifth-year senior, has less than two months left in a career that includes two trips to the NCAA tournament.

The 2010 Moanalua alumna, who redshirted one season at N.C. State before transferring to Fairfield, is one of five players from Hawaii out of the 13 who have recorded 1,000 career digs with the Stags.

Next season will likely be the first in more than a decade for the Fairfield volleyball team not to have at least one player from the islands.

"You never know if that will change, but yeah, Hawaii girls have made the most of the opportunity to be standout players here," Mata said. "There’s a real opportunity for girls that come from Hawaii to stand out in the MAAC and be considered one of the better players."

The list of the top diggers in school history includes St. Joseph alumnae Lindsey Lee and Jazmin Pa’akaula, who played four years together with the Stags from 2004 to ’07. That opened the door for future local standouts, including Hawaii Baptist graduate Brandi Higa (2005-08) and Sacred Hearts alumna Haililani Pokipala (2008-11).

Mata was forced to look elsewhere after a coaching change took place after her first year at N.C. State.

Fairfield, which recruited Mata out of high school, was the perfect landing spot.

Mata got to play one year with Pokipala, who is 13th on the career digs list with 1,042, trailing Lee (1,674), Pa’akaula (1,594), Higa (1,361) and now Mata (1,195).

"It was nice Haili was here because I went through the whole homesickness struggle (at N.C. State)," Mata said. "When I got here, we would hang out together and were making Spam musubis all of the time and it helped make things feel more like home."

The Stags went 20-10 during Mata’s first season, losing in the MAAC title game to No. 1 seed Niagara in four sets.

Fairfield won the league each of the next two seasons and made two trips to the NCAA tournament, playing at USC in 2012 and at Nebraska in 2013.

"I’ll never, ever forget what it feels like to play in the NCAA tournament," Mata said. "You realize how special it is when you get to the NCAA tournament and understand that only 64 teams out of the 300 or so teams get to be there.

"It’s such a unique feeling and you feel like it’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing, but I’ve been there twice and hopefully I can get back one more time."

Fairfield has started slow this season under a first-year head coach, with Mata moving over to setter for the first time.

The Stags are 7-9 overall and have split their conference matches each of the first three weeks, but are coming off a key four-set win over Marist on Sunday that Mata believes could be the turning point of the season.

"I can see (Sunday’s) win being the match that totally turns this ship around," Mata said. "We had played them 10 days earlier at their place and lost in four in their house but then beat them in four in ours.

"Last year we started MAAC play 0-4 and then went on a 12-game winning streak and I think this is the match that can get us to start accelerating from here."

Mata has started all 16 matches this year and is averaging 8.10 assists per set. She leads the team with 18 aces and is third with 133 digs, giving her 1,195 in her career, which ranks ninth on the school’s all-time list.

Carsen Mata
School: Fairfield
Class: Senior
Height: 5 feet 7
High school: Moanalua (2010)