Reserves Add Mustard to CSUN Volleyball Team

John Price, who works in a sandwich shop in Burbank when he isn’t coaching the Cal State Northridge volleyball team, didn’t find any heroes last weekend in Santa Barbara.

What he did find, though, were some able bodies that he hadn’t been counting on. They were sitting right next to him.

Relying more than they expected on reserves Tom Ribarich and Jim Meaney, the Matadors finished sixth in the UC Santa Barbara Invitational, a 20-team tournament sandwiched between CSUN’s first two California Intercollegiate Volleyball Assn. matches--a loss at Stanford and a win at St. Mary’s last week--and its home opener tonight at 7:30 against conference rival Cal State Long Beach.

“It was a pleasant surprise to look down the bench and see a couple of guys who could play at that level,” Price said.

So pleasant, in fact, that Price is talking about the Matadors reaching the NCAA playoffs. Considering that CSUN’s two-year record in the CIVA before this season was 4-32 and that they lost in straight games at Stanford, that’s pretty heady talk.

“I’m really feeling pretty good,” Price said. “All through January, we’ve been saying we’re a good team, but you just never know until you play. And I think last weekend we proved that we’re a good team, that we will be very competitive. Santa Barbara is ranked fourth in the country and we went toe to toe with those guys, so we’re right there. . . . This should be one of our best teams ever.”

Price said that last weekend’s tournament provided a more accurate indication of CSUN’s strength than last week’s two conference matches. The Matadors played without All-American Chuck English at Stanford and St. Mary’s. English was waiting for his grade from a between-semesters class to be posted so he could become eligible.

Price said English “wasn’t real sharp” at Santa Barbara, but added, “He’s the type of player who can turn a match around by himself.”

CSUN played eight best-of-three matches in less than 31 hours at UCSB, winning five. It was a loss, however, that most encouraged Price. Starters Mark Stein (sprained ankle) and Ed DeGrasse (sore shoulder) were on the bench when UCSB beat the Matadors, 14-16, 15-13, 17-15, in a 2-hour, 20-minute match Friday night.

Ribarich replaced Stein and Meaney filled in for DeGrasse.

If the Matadors can play so well without two of their starters, what can they do when Stein and DeGrasse return?

They’ll find out soon.

After tonight, the Matadors play matches against No. 1 Pepperdine, No. 2 USC and two against No. 5 Hawaii in the next month--all at Northridge. They also play UCSB again at Santa Barbara.

Based on what he saw last weekend, Price believes that CSUN is one of the top seven or eight teams in the country. Unfortunately, all of the other teams he regards so highly also play in the CIVA.

The conference’s top five teams qualify for the NCAA playoffs. The CIVA champion earns an automatic berth in the NCAA Final Four, and the teams that finish 2-5 advance to the West regional.

“There are going to be two or three good teams not even making the regional this season,” Price said. “Hopefully, we won’t be one of them. We’ll be very competitive. We could go 5-15 or 15-5 and really there would be no difference in the quality of the team. That’s how close the competition is.”

Judging by CSUN’s play last weekend, Price is probably right.