Northridge, Portland St. Reach Final

Like two old acquaintances getting together for the holidays each year, the Cal State Northridge and Portland State women’s volleyball teams will have another reunion tonight.

Actually, these two teams are more like jealous rivals haggling over an old debt than long-time chums yukking it up over an egg nog--more like the Colbys and the Carringtons than, say, the Flintstones and the Rubbles.

For the third straight year, CSUN and PSU will meet for the NCAA Division II championship. The match will start at 8 p.m. in Portland State’s Health and Physical Education Building.

The Lady Matadors, especially, have an ax to grind with the Vikings, who embarrassed them by winning three straight games last year at Portland State. Two years ago, CSUN struggled to beat Portland State in a five-game match at Lakeland, Fla.

And now they’ll have at it again.

The top-ranked Lady Matadors (27-9) beat Nebraska-Omaha, 15-12, 16-14, 15-11, in one semifinal Friday night for their 21st straight win. Second-ranked Portland State (35-5) then rolled over Sam Houston State, 15-6, 15-13, 15-10, in the other for its 22nd straight victory.

“Obviously, we want revenge,” CSUN’s Shelli Mosby said afterward. “There’s a lot of animosity on our team right now toward them.”

“We hate ‘em,” said Heather Hafner, interrupting her teammate.

“I don’t hate ‘em,” Mosby continued, “but I want to beat them in front of their home crowd.”

Mosby knows it won’t be easy.

Portland State is 17-0 at home this season, 31-0 in the last two seasons, and CSUN seems to be taking the Vikings more seriously than it did a year ago. Coach Walt Ker flew up to Portland two weeks ago to scout their match against Idaho. Last year, he didn’t see them until the semifinals. And he didn’t learn much as they blasted Sam Houston State.

Also, the Lady Matadors aren’t spending any time in the hotel bar, as they did a year ago. Said Hafner on the eve of the tournament: “We’re not going to party this year--until Saturday.”

Their victory over Omaha was no party for the Lady Matadors. Unaccustomed to Omaha’s dink-dink-dink offense, they didn’t play particularly well, falling behind in each game and winding up with an attacking percentage of only .226.

“What is this,” Mosby asked, “the dink nationals?”

“I think the girls got frustrated,” Ker said. “They felt they should be blowing this team out, and it wasn’t happening--not because Nebraska was that good, but because of the style they were playing.”

Said Hafner: “We’re used to playing power teams.”

Despite its problems, CSUN scored the crucial points at the end of each game. “It wasn’t the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen,” Hafner said, “but it was functional.”

And it got them into the final.

The match they had been waiting a year to play was less than 24 hours away.

Of last year’s final, Ker said: “We were a little embarrassed, a lot frustrated. I think we respected Portland a lot, but we didn’t even play well and, as a result, that was very frustrating.”

They can erase the memory tonight.

Notes:

Friday night’s crowd was 2,010. A sellout of more than 2,500 is expected tonight. . . . Of last year’s final, Portland State’s four-time All-America Lynda Johnson said: “I think Northridge was sort of overwhelmed by the crowd. I think this year they’re going to be a lot more prepared for it. They know what to expect.” . . . Johnson, on the rivalry between the two teams: “I don’t feel animosity. I just feel the competition between the teams because we’re so equally matched.” . . . Nebraska-Omaha reserve Lori Schutte sang the national anthem before Friday night’s matches.