CSUN Women Rip Rankings--and Chapman

Although Chapman College is ranked higher than Cal State Northridge, both coaches agreed Tuesday night on two things. One, the Lady Matadors are a better team than the Lady Panthers. And two, the Lady Panthers aren’t too shabby themselves.

“Chapman surprised me,” said CSUN Coach Walt Ker, after his team beat the Lady Panthers, 15-5, 15-11, 5-15, 15-13. “They played a lot better than I thought they would. They played with an intensity and defensive level that was great.”

Said Chapman Coach Tom Read: “We didn’t beat ourselves this time. We got beat by a better team. Northridge has to be one of the best teams in the country right now so I don’t think those rankings mean too much.”

Ker disputes the rankings, which have CSUN rated 13th and Chapman 10th.

“The rankings are misleading,” he said. “Four of our five losses are to Division I teams. Our early schedule is tougher than other Division II schools so it’s really a tribute to ranked be at all.”

First-year Chapman skipper Read said finding Chapman (11-7) ranked was news to his team: “We lost to Pomona and then CSUN went through Pomona like a hot knife through butter. To me, Northridge is the premier team in our conference and one of the better teams in the California.

“They’re an experienced, emotional group of players. We’re a little more low-key and intelligent type, although we weren’t as intelligent tonight as I would have liked.”

CSUN, which evened its record to 5-5, will meet the best team in California on Thursday night when the Lady Matadors compete in the National Invitational Volleyball Tournament. CSUN’s first game is against UCLA, the top-ranked team in Division I.

“I’m really glad the team is playing in that tournament,” Ker said. “It’s definitely going to be a great opportunity to see how well we play against the best teams around. We’ll be able to see things, any inconsistencies, that we can work out before we get too involved in our league.”

Against UCLA, CSUN will have to count on Karen Lontka and Anna Garcia to generate an offensive thrust. Each had 17 kills against Chapman. They’ll also be relying on Shelli Mosby, CSUN’s perennial all-everything who recorded three service aces and had 17 digs against the Lady Panthers.

Mosby said she thought that Chapman was “terrible” but isn’t giving her team much of a chance against UCLA.

Said Mosby: “When we get there, they’ll probably tell us to get the hell out of Dodge.”