Without 2 Key Players, CSUN Beats Cal Poly Pomona in 3 Sets

Lynette Colter will walk up the middle aisle next month to be married. Monday, the middle blocker walked off the Cal State Northridge women’s volleyball team leaving the middle court wide open Friday night in its first home game against Cal Poly Pomona.

But after losing the first game, 15-8, the All-American team of Heather Hafner and Shelli Mosby led the Matadors in a three-game sweep, 15-4, 15-7 and 15-5 to upset the second-rated Division II team in the country.

Colter, a senior returning from last season’s nationally ranked Matador team, quit Monday to fly home to Santa Rosa to make plans for her wedding.

Northridge, ranked 13th in NCAA Division II, also lost its other returning middle blocker, Chris Tedeschi, when it was discovered that she didn’t have enough academic units to play. CSUN Coach Walt Ker feared the loss may be enough to really hurt his team’s chances against the Broncos. Pomona had beaten the Matadors earlier this season in the UC Davis Tournament.

Ker was wrong. After the first game, the Hafner-Mosby pair dominated the defense with 20 and 13 digs respectively helping CSUN to its victory.

“They (CSUN) could lose all their starters and with Hafner and Mosby they would still be a top-notch team,” Pomona Coach Paul Gabriel said.

Hafner and returning outside hitter Anna Garcia each made 18 kills while Pomona’s All-Americans accounted for just 16 between them.

“Northridge is no pushover,” Gabriel said. “They’re the defending league champions. They’ve won three out of the last four championships. Winners like that don’t go down easy,” he said.

The Broncos, 1-1, will try to get even late this month when they face CSUN, 2-0, again before the regionals.