CSUN Loses Bird, Then Volleyball Match to UCLA

Playing No. 1-ranked UCLA at Pauley Pavilion was a formidable challenge to begin with for the Cal State Northridge men’s volleyball team. The task didn’t figure to get any easier when Mike Bird, CSUN’s top player, went down in the first game with a twisted right ankle.

So even though UCLA rolled to a 15-2, 15-4, 14-16, 15-1 victory in a Western Intercollegiate Volleyball Assn. match Tuesday night, it could easily have been worse for the Matadors.

“Losing to UCLA isn’t a great disaster,” CSUN Coach John Price said. “The loss of Bird definitely hurt us the rest of the match.”

What hurt more, however, was CSUN’s own mistakes. The Matadors committed 37 attack errors and 13 service errors to contribute mightily to UCLA’s seventh conference victory without a loss.

CSUN (7-11, 2-5 in conference) managed only an .015 hitting percentage, as compared to .357 for UCLA (22-3).

“I’d have been pleased if we lost by the same score if we played well,” Price said. “But we committed too many unforced errors and couldn’t take advantage of UCLA mistakes.”

The Matadors managed just six points in the first two games before winning the third game against UCLA’s reserves. Trailing 14-12, CSUN’s Ron Graening served consecutive aces to tie the score, and Jeff McClean blocked a J.B. Saunders spike attempt to close out the game.

Even in winning the third game, Price wasn’t satisfied with the level of his team’s play.

“Against their subs, we should have walked away with the game,” Price said.

UCLA Coach Al Scates was less disturbed with the outcome of the third game even though his team lost it. “This was a rare opportunity for me to put in some subs,” he said.

When Scates put back his starters back in, UCLA closed fast to maintain its national standing. The Bruins are tied with Penn State atop the coaches’ poll.

Scott Brecker led CSUN with a game-high 16 kills. Jeff Williams topped UCLA with 15 kills, followed by Don Dendinger with 13.