THE COLLEGES : Northridge Hoping Tide Won’t Turn After Volleyball Win Over Waves

A month ago, the Cal State Northridge men’s volleyball team embarrassed Pepperdine by sweeping the host Waves in a match televised live on Prime Ticket.

But if Pepperdine felt an urge to slink away after that pummeling, just think of how the Waves must have felt two weeks later during a loss to San Diego State.

With the host Aztecs leading, two games to one, San Diego fans reportedly began serenading the Pepperdine team with a chant of “ Nooorth -ridge . . . Nooorth -ridge.”

“Can you imagine?” said CSUN Coach John Price, after relaying the incident. “I just hope they don’t take it out on us.”

Northridge, which is tied with Pepperdine for second place in the Western Intercollegiate Volleyball Assn.’s DeGroot Division, will play host to the Waves on March 10.

A slower start: A lineup that started 17-1 and made the state playoffs last season returned virtually intact for the Valley College baseball team. But the Monarchs have stumbled unexpectedly during this season’s preconference schedule.

Valley has limboed its way through the early season, hitting one new low after another. Tuesday, Valley surrendered a two-run home run in the ninth inning of a 9-8 loss to El Camino that dropped the Monarchs to 4-9-1.

“We’ve been crappy,” Valley Coach Chris Johnson said. “I’m a little disappointed, but I think we’re learning some valuable lessons.”

A difficult schedule and a team batting average of about .240 have not helped Valley, but Johnson, who would make Ernie Banks look gloomy, expects a fresh start when his team starts Western State Conference play Saturday against Santa Barbara.

“Some of the kids have hit what they believe rock bottom is. They’ve made it through it, they’re still standing,” Johnson said. “I feel pretty good going into conference, believe it or not.”

Numbers watch: Although he suffered through a horrendous shooting slump in the middle of the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. season, Derrick Gathers led Cal State Northridge in scoring and rebounding for the second year in a row.

Gathers, a senior who scored 92 points in his final four games after scoring 35 in his previous five, averaged 17.6 points and 7.1 rebounds a game.

He also set a school record with 182 three-point attempts, breaking the mark of 165 he set last season.

During his two seasons at Northridge, the 6-foot-3 swingman scored 913 points (17.2 average) and grabbed 373 rebounds (7.0).

He also had 148 assists (2.8) and shot 43% from the field and 34.9% from three-point range.

However, on a down note, Gathers made only five more field goals this season than he did as a junior, even though he attempted 55 more shots.

Charity stripe: Is it any wonder that Mike Michelson, the son of a basketball coach, has mastered the fundamentals of free-throw shooting.

Michelson, whose father coaches the Valley College women’s basketball team, made 94% of his free-throw attempts for the Coast Guard Academy this season, including 59 in a row.

Final farewell: Cal State Los Angeles track Coach John Tansley has announced his retirement effective at the end of the season. Tansley, in his sixth year at Cal State L. A., has led the Golden Eagles to four consecutive California Collegiate Athletic Assn. titles.

Before taking the Cal State L. A. job, Tansley, 54, was coach at Glendale College for 14 seasons. There, his teams won four state cross-country championships and a state track title.

In track, Tansley’s Glendale teams won 72 consecutive dual meets and nine Western State Conference titles before Tansley left to accept the coaching duties at Cal State Long Beach in 1981.

“I had planned that this season would be my last about 10 to 15 years ago,” said Tansley, in his 30th year of coaching.

“I had originally planned to stick around for 30 and that would be it.

“There have been some good times and there have been some bad times, but as time goes on I’ll probably remember the good ones and the bad ones will fade away.”

Add track: Although the Cal State Los Angeles men’s track team finished second to Cal State Northridge on Saturday, with 74 1/2 points to 90 1/2, in a four-way California Collegiate Athletic Assn. meet against CSUN, UC Riverside and host Cal Poly Pomona, Tansley believes the results are deceiving.

Cal State L. A. won 11 of the 18 events, with Northridge’s margin of victory coming on numerous second and third-place finishes.

“They have a lot of people and they picked up most of those points on their depth,” Tansley said of CSUN. “It will be a lot closer in the CCAA meet. We’re still in good shape.”

Tansley expects to have 10 to 15 more athletes eligible in the spring who will be able to make an impact in the CCAA meet in May.

“(Cal State L.A.) is typically a very weak team this time of year,” CSUN Coach Don Strametz said. “They will definitely be much stronger in the spring.”

Northridge also defeated Cal State L.A. in an early-season meet last year, but the Golden Eagles came back to claim the CCAA title.

Youth and injuries: The College of the Canyons baseball team has a record of 8-5 going into its Western State Conference opener today at home against Santa Barbara.

But with 24 freshmen on the 33-player roster, Canyons Coach Len Mohney is not worried about his record yet.

“We were 1-13 in 1983 going into conference when we won the state title,” said Mohney, who was an assistant coach when Canyons won three state titles in the ‘80s. “It’s more important on how we’re playing in May.”

Mohney is more concerned with the shuffling he has done with his lineup because of injuries.

“I don’t even know how many times I have had to change the lineup,” he said. “At least seven times that I know of.”

Kirby Lee and staff writers Mike Hiserman, John Ortega and Brendan Healey contributed to this notebook.