Stanford Socks It to CSUN in 3-Game Volleyball Sweep

Many of the Cal State Northridge men’s volleyball players scribbled “BS” on their socks before their Western Intercollegiate Volleyball Assn. match against Stanford on Friday night.

The reason, according to team captain Tom Ribarich, was to show support for teammate Bob Samuelson, who was suspended from the team earlier this week.

The initials obviously didn’t stand for Beat Stanford. The Cardinal, ranked fifth in the nation, crushed CSUN, 15-7, 15-2, 15-6, in 90 minutes in a WIVA match at CSUN. Although the loss of Samuelson--CSUN’s top hitter--obviously hurt the Matadors, odds are his presence in the match wouldn’t have affected the outcome.

“I don’t think that we played as well as we’re capable of playing but I think Stanford played excellent,” CSUN Coach John Price said. “They dug everything we hit (and) once they started playing well, the snowball kept rolling.”

Samuelson was suspended Tuesday for disciplinary reasons, Price said. Price will meet with Samuelson--a 6-foot-5 senior--Monday to discuss Samuelson’s status.

“Any time I set Bob it’s an automatic kill,” Ribarich said. “But you can’t say, ‘Oh, no! We don’t have Bob.’ ”

Senior middle blocker and 1988 Olympian Scott Fortune led the Cardinal attack with 21 kills in 28 attempts.

Fortune wasn’t the only player getting rich against the Matadors’ porous defense. Dan Hanan added 17 kills in 19 attempts as the Cardinal (6-1, 3-1 in conference play) finished with a .423 hitting percentage.

Sophomore middle blocker Raphael Tulino led CSUN (2-4, 0-4) with 10 kills and Andrew Greskovics added nine.