OTHER SPORTS : CSUN Volleyball Coach Hopes Loss Serves as a Lesson

Will No. 2 try harder? Cal State Northridge volleyball Coach Walt Ker certainly hopes so.

After five consecutive weeks of being the top-ranked Division II team, the Lady Matadors fell to No. 2 this week after losing to UC Riverside, 15-7, 15-9, 14-16, 15-7, in the final of the Premier Tournament at the Air Force Academy on Sunday.

Northridge had defeated Riverside in five games in a California Collegiate Athletic Assn. match at Riverside, Oct. 24.

“We played good, but not great, against them at their place and still won,” Ker said. “I think that might have given us a little misconception about how good we needed to be to win a championship. This, hopefully, cleared things up for us.”

Northridge will play host to Riverside on Nov. 18 in a match that will decide the CCAA championship. Ker said Northridge will have to pass and block better to win--yet have the talent to win a championship.

“There is no question in my mind now that Riverside and Northridge are the two best teams in the country,” he said.

John Tronson of the Northridge soccer team was officially credited with a school record on a day the Matador team was idle.

Last Wednesday, Northridge defeated Cal Poly Pomona, 3-2, to clinch its third consecutive CCAA title. Tronson, one point shy of the CSUN record for career points, didn’t have a goal or an assist. Until the next day.

When Northridge sports information assistant Sivon Kalminov checked the NCAA rules, he found Tronson should have been credited with two assists. On CSUN’s first goal, Tronson had headed the ball at the goalie who deflected it before Northridge’s Joey Kirk rebounded it in. Because the goalie didn’t control Tronson’s shot, he was given an assist.

On the Matadors’ last goal, Tronson took a shot that banked off the goal post, went out to Kirk, who passed to Frank Cubillos for the goal. Because no defender touched the ball after Tronson’s shot, he was given an assist, along with Kirk. A maximum of two assists are given for each goal.

That gave Tronson 25 points for the season, 109 for his career, and the record. He is still two goals shy of the school record of 45 career goals.

Northridge, ranked No. 1 in the Division II, received a bye in the first round of the West Regionals. The Matadors will play the winner of Saturday’s game between Seattle Pacific and Chico State on Nov. 22. North Campus Stadium is the probable site.

The Cal Lutheran soccer team lost, 1-0, against Westmont in the first round of the NAIA District III playoffs Saturday. The loss eliminated the Kingsmen, 14-6-1, from postseason play. Westmont moves on to play Fresno Pacific for the district championship on Saturday.

Three Kingsmen were selected to the all-district team and Coach Gary Jensen was named District III Coach of the Year. Robert Marti and Peter Arreola were first-team selections and Ken Epperson made the second team.

In women’s volleyball, Cal Lutheran was eliminated from the District III playoffs last weekend in Fresno. The Regals lost to Biola, 15-14, 15-13, on Friday and to eventual champion St. Mary’s, 15-11, 16-14, on Saturday.

Senior Jill Koscinski, who led CLU in kills and blocks this season, was a first-team all-district selection.

CLU cross-country runners Art Castle and Lori Zackula will run in the NAIA national meet Saturday in Kenosha, Wis. Castle has qualified for the nationals four times and Zackula has qualified twice.

The Master’s College men’s basketball team opens the 1986-87 season Saturday at Grand Canyon College.