Northridge Reaches Volleyball Finals for 6th Straight Season

LAKELAND, Fla. — As a reward for winning the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. title and the No. 1 ranking among NCAA Division II women’s volleyball teams, Cal State Northridge was sent across the country to earn its way back for a shot at the national championship.

Northridge Coach Walt Ker didn’t mind the journey.

“We’d like to play all our games here,” he said.

That may be stretching the point, but CSUN certainly has made the most of its two visits to Florida Southern College. In 1983, the Lady Matadors won the national championship with victories over Air Force and Portland State.

Saturday night, Northridge qualified for its sixth consecutive appearance in the Final Four with a 15-11, 15-5, 15-8 victory over Mississippi University for Women in the South regional championship at Jenkins Field House.

Northridge (36-5) will try for its first national title in three years Friday and Saturday at Sacramento. MUW ended the season 37-4.

“We’re really pleased make it to the Final Four,” Ker said Saturday night from Atlanta while awaiting a connecting flight to Los Angeles. “The thing I’m personally most proud about our program at Northridge is that we’ve qualified to play for the national championship every year since I’ve been coach here. That’s really something when you consider what a difficult road that has been in many years.”

This year, CSUN’s road to the Final Four wound through the likes of MUW, Florida Southern and the U.S. Naval Academy. The Lady Matadors proceeded to win six straight games from Florida Southern and MUW to take care of the formalities.

Ker said Northridge didn’t play particularly well in either match.

“We were not really sharp, but we played a lot better today than yesterday,” he said. “I still don’t think we’ve played our best volleyball, but we didn’t need to.”

Northridge offset 12 service errors by playing good defense.

“We missed quite a few serves both nights, but that may have been because we hadn’t played a lot of matches the last few weeks,” Ker said. “We have always been a good serving team, but we didn’t do well in this tournament.

“But that shows you how good our defense is.”

Northridge used its height advantage for 16 blocks. MUW managed just six.

“Our defense was very good which started with our blocking,” Ker said. “Mississippi had three strong attackers and we did a good job neutralizing them. That started with the block, which allowed us to score fairly rapidly.

“We were in control the whole time.”

The turning point in the match, according to MUW Coach Samye Johnson, was the opening game. MUW took a 5-2 lead, only to have CSUN storm back to tie the game at 9 and take an 11-10 lead on a block by Anna Garcia and Chris Tedeschi. After a timeout by MUW, Garcia served the next four points as CSUN closed out the game, 15-11.

Offensively, Northridge was led by sophomore All-American candidate Sue Darcey. The 6-4 outside hitter had 11 kills. Tedeschi, a junior, and Karen Lontka, a senior, added seven and six kills respectively.

Angie Brinton, CSUN’s setter and an All-American candidate, had 37 assists against MUW.

Northridge wasn’t even back home when Ker began thinking about the Final Four.

“For us to achieve our ultimate goal next weekend, we’ll have to play well in all facets of the game,” Ker said. “I think the team that will win it will be the team that can duplicate back-to-back nights of great emotional attitude.”

Northridge, which finished second to Portland State the past two years, has experience on its side, Ker said.

“The girls in the program know what it feels like to win,” Ker said. “And many of them know what it feels like to finish second. They know what is more fun.”

BACK TO THE FINAL FOUR

Year Result in Final Four Record 1981 Finished third 13-18 1982 Runner-up 33-10 1983 Won championship 31-6 1984 Runner-up 39-9 1985 Runner-up 27-10 1986 Finals begin Dec. 12 36-5