It’s a Familiar Ending for CSUN--Another Loss

The Cal State Northridge men’s volleyball team fell to UC Santa Barbara on Friday at CSUN in a loss that typified the season for the Matadors.

In fact, CSUN’s 11-15, 15-8, 15-10, 15-8 defeat to fifth-ranked UCSB was so similar to other losses that even Matador Coach John Price was unable to distinguish the match from his team’s 12 previous Western Intercollegiate Volleyball Assn. setbacks.

“I wish I could point out one thing we did wrong,” Price said. “We were just doing the little things wrong.”

For CSUN (7-17 overall, 2-13 in conference play), the little things included offense and defense.

After winning the first game, Northridge trailed throughout the second game but managed to close to within, 10-8, before Santa Barbara (21-8, 10-4) scored five consecutive points to even the match.

Still, the Matadors maintained their confidence.

“Even when we were down I thought we would win,” setter Tom Ribarich said.

But UCSB proceeded to dismantle the Matadors. The Gauchos raced to a 12-3 lead in the third game before CSUN mounted a rally, scoring seven of the next eight points to trim the deficit to 13-10. Senior Bob Samuelson had six of his match-high 30 kills in CSUN’s run and sophomore Neil Coffman added two kills.

But Santa Barbara regained the serve and the momentum with a kill, and two Northridge errors helped the Gauchos close out the game.

“I felt like we were in all the games, even though they had big leads,” Price said. “We played a good match tonight. It just wasn’t a great match. Both teams did all things, well but they were just a little steadier than we were.”

Santa Barbara opened the final game with an 8-0 run.

The Matadors closed to within 14-8 and managed five sideouts to prolong the outcome before Adam Unger’s ace gave Santa Barbara the match.

Sophomore Raphael Tulino had 18 kills and only one attacking error for Northridge.

The Matadors will travel to Indiana next weekend for the Ball State tournament.