CSUN Sweeps Cal State L. A.

Playing women’s volleyball at Cal State Northridge has been like going to a birthday party where the clown forgets to show.

No surprises.

The undefeated Lady Matadors swept Cal State Los Angeles, 15-5, 15-6, 15-9, Tuesday night for the second time in California Collegiate Athletic Assn. play.

“We expected them to beat us,” said Los Angeles Coach Pete Valesco, whose team fell to 1-7 in conference and 5-14 overall.

After winning just four conference matches, the NCAA Division II ranked CSUN (8-0) No. 2.

It was par for the court.

The Lady Matadors finally got their first surprise one week ago when the NCAA posted its biweekly top 20.

CSUN wasn’t ranked.

“We were not eligible for the poll,” said Greg Badovinac, sports information director at CSUN. “Our form wasn’t received by the NCAA in time.”

And according to CSUN Coach Walt Ker, if they continue to win they should get the No. 1 spot next week.

They did so well against the Golden Eagles that CSUN played only one starter--Karen Lontka--in the third game.

Lontka played the net against her former El Camino College teammate Therese Liegey. The 5-11 middle blocker was consistently belting either the ball or a fearsome, “YES” at Liegey.

The yell, she says, is to alert the setter that she’s ready for the ball--which came her way for 14 kills in the match.

“One of her best characteristics is her intensity level,” Ker said. “It affects the other team.”

It even scares them.

“It distracts them,” Lontka said, “and gives them something extra to think about.”

Something else Los Angeles has to think about is how to prepare for CSUN next year, especially after watching the second-string Lady Matadors dominate the last third of the 55-minute match.

It began in the first game when All-American Heather Hafner lived up to her reputation with seven kills.

One Hafner kill sped passed Golden Eagle blockers at a near-vertical angle, causing a moment of emotion in an otherwise ho-hum match.

In the second game, Ker pulled his other All-American, Shelli Mosby, but left Hafner and the other starters in for good measure.

CSUN’s Angela Brinton took the 5-5 setter’s place and demonstrated a little “dumping” of her own. Los Angeles learned the definition from Brinton in the second game, as the sophomore led the team with a 1.000 percentage on attacks.