No. 3 USC Makes Short Work of CSUN in Volleyball Sweep

The men’s volleyball team at Cal State Northridge has a couple of things to say to all of the other CSUN teams hoping to move from Division II to Division I status.

Yes, it is fun to play big-name schools such as UCLA and Pepperdine in hallowed venues like Pauley Pavilion and Firestone Fieldhouse. And it is really fun to go to Hawaii every two years to play a few games.

Just don’t expect to win very often right away.

CSUN’s volleyball team has been playing in the Western Collegiate Volleyball Assn. for the past two years. It knows a thing or two about Division I, because the national championship has been won by a WIVA team every year since 1970.

The Matadors just have not figured out a way to win in the conference. USC beat Northridge, 15-2, 15-5, 15-8, Saturday night in a 65-minute WIVA match at USC before a crowd of 200.

Oh, boy. What fun.

“It was ugly,” CSUN coach John Price. “It was one of those nights. They blew our doors off.”

And it was not the first time the Matadors’ hinges have been snapped. CSUN (3-8, 0-3 in WIVA matches) is 4-17 in WIVA play over the past two years.

“They executed and we didn’t,” Price said. “It’s as simple as that. They played well, we played poorly.”

USC, the No. 3 team in the nation, needed only 10 minutes to kill off CSUN in the first game. Part of the Matadors’ problem was the Trojans’ hitting (6 kills, 1 error in 11 attempts). Most of the problem, however, was CSUN’s hitting (5 kills, 10 errors in 25 attempts).

“We need to come out of the gate faster,” CSUN outside hitter Raphael Tulino said.

The Matadors were tied, 2-2, in the second game when USC (12-1, 4-0) went on a 10-0 run. The Trojans’ Jen-Kai Liu, who finished with a match-high 19 kills, had two during the run.

CSUN scored three points to close to within 12-5, but Liu ended the 15-minute game with four spikes.

After USC jumped out to a 9-2 lead in the third game, the teams played even for the rest of the game. “We played good in the third game and we still lost, 15-8,” Price said. “They were just too good for us.”

This was supposed to be the season that CSUN could be competitive with USC, the three-time national runner-up. With four returning starters and three talented redshirts starting their first season at CSUN, the Matadors believed they could challenge USC, UCLA, Pepperdine and Hawaii for WIVA supremacy.

“Talent-wise, we’re just as good as them,” Tulino said. “But we made too many errors. It’s frustrating; we can play with them.”

Jeff Campbell led CSUN with eight kills and a .263 hitting percentage.