OTHER SPORTS : CSUN Begins Volleyball Title Bid in Florida

Cal State Northridge, which moved back into the No. 1 spot in this week’s final NCAA Division II women’s volleyball poll, won’t have to face No. 2-ranked UC Riverside in the regionals.

The Lady Matadors, however, will have to travel 2,400 miles to meet Florida Southern in the first round of the 16-team Division II playoffs Dec. 5 at Lakeland, Fla.

CSUN is 34-5 and won its fourth straight California Collegiate Athletic Assn. championship. Florida Southern (32-8), ranked No. 16, won the Sunshine Conference.

Navy meets the Mississippi University for Women in the other half of the regional.

“I’m just shocked,” said CSUN Coach Walt Ker, whose teams have reached the championship each of the last four seasons, winning once.

In 1983, the Lady Matadors beat Portland State at Lakeland, Fla. With that in mind, Ker said next week’s trip will be nostalgic.

It also should be painless, said UC Riverside Coach Sue Gozansky, who believes that CSUN should waltz into the Final Four on Dec. 12-13 at Cal State Sacramento.

Meanwhile, Riverside will join Northern Colorado, Central Missouri and Regis in a regional at Warrensburg, Mo.

The NCAA split up the division’s top four teams, sending No. 3 Cal State Sacramento to Fargo, N.D., and No. 4 Nebraska Omaha to Allendale, Mich.

Portland State, the two-time defending division champion, is ranked No. 8 and will meet No. 10 North Dakota State at Fargo.

Relatively speaking: Basketball coaches like to compliment smart players by likening them to coaches on the floor. But first-year Moorpark women’s basketball Coach Gary Abraham has the real thing.

Karina Hardman, who coached the Royal High girls team each of the past two years, is listed on Moorpark’s roster. So are two of her former Royal players--Michelle Brown, who is Hardman’s sister, and Debbie Rabin.