CSUN Women Advance to Volleyball Regionals

For the sixth consecutive season, the Cal State Northridge women’s volleyball team will advance to the NCAA Division II as the top-seeded squad from the California Collegiate Athletic Assn.

The Lady Matadors beat UC Riverside, 15-9, 14-16, 15-5, 15-10, in a 1-match playoff Monday night at Cal State Dominguez Hills. The win means that Northridge, which tied the Highlanders for the conference title with 11-1 records, advances to the regionals Dec. 2 and 3 as the CCAA’s No. 1 team.

Riverside beat Northridge in the semifinals of the Premier tournament at the Air Force academy 3 weeks ago and also knocked off the Matadors last week in CCAA to break CSUN’s 48-game conference winning streak.

“We lost to them 2 times so it was a really emotional game,” middle blocker Kathleen Dixon said. “We were all psyched up.”

Northridge’s passing, which had been erratic in last week’s loss, was solid in the win. Alissa Evans led CSUN with 29 digs and 5 other players had 12 or more.

“All the passers did a tremendous job,” Coach Walt Ker said.

And with the Matadors passing, setter Karen Langston had a much easier time setting to Dixon and Keira Middleton, who each had 22 kills to lead the match.

After winning the first game with surprising ease, Northridge took a 13-8 lead in the second game. But Riverside scored 8 of the last 9 points to win the game.

The Matadors regrouped and swept the last 2 games to win the match, improving CSUN’s record to 29-10 overall.

CSUN plays host to Portland State, the No. 1 team in Division II, today at 5 p.m.