U.S. OLYMPIC FESTIVAL : A NORTHRIDGE CLASS REUNION : 3 Sophomores-to-Be Pick Up Experience, Leave Matadors Poised for Run at National Title

There was a reunion of sorts when the North played the West in a U. S. Olympic Festival men’s volleyball match Thursday at the University of Minnesota’s Williams Arena.

Coley Kyman, Ken Lynch and Gary Reznick, all freshman starters for Cal State Northridge last season, took to the court again.

But not all on the same side of the net. Kyman and Lynch were starters for the North; Reznick was the setter for the West.

When it was over, Kyman and Reznick embraced.

“I just want you to know that it felt really, really good to beat you, Gary,” Kyman said, patting his buddy on the back.

With a wide grin, Kyman quickly added that he was only kidding. The one he really wanted to beat, Kyman said in a more serious tone, was the West coach--Alec Peters of NCAA Division I champion USC, which eliminated CSUN from postseason play in the spring.

Reznick nodded. Maybe during CSUN’s next Western Intercollegiate Volleyball Assn. campaign all three players could share that enjoyment.

But on this day, only two were content. Kyman had 15 kills and Lynch added nine as the North evened its record at 1-1 with a 15-6, 15-7, 5-15, 15-13 decision.

The loss, which dropped the West to 1-1, certainly wasn’t Reznick’s fault. He had 59 assists without a ballhandling error. Kyman liked what he saw of Reznick, even if his own team suffered for it.

“The Gary you see here and the Gary who played for us last year are like night and day,” Kyman said. “Did you hear him taking charge out there?”

Indeed, Reznick’s animated display was hard to miss. He clapped, shouted encouragement and sometimes even scolded. Last season, more often than not it was Reznick who was barked at.

Reznick became a starter by default when academics sidelined Matt Unger, the only CSUN setter with college experience. Reznick says he learned he was the starter about two hours before CSUN’s season-opening match.

A setter in volleyball is much like the quarterback of a football team. On occasion, there was mutiny in Reznick’s huddle.

“Leadership comes hard when you have older, more established players kind of telling you what to do,’ Reznick said.

CSUN’s lineup included three juniors, all of whom are expected back next season. The Reznick they remember is a talented setter with questionable leadership ability, a player who was quiet--almost sheepish--when things went wrong.

But with a year of Division I experience and a summer of Olympic Festival play behind him, Resnick plans to display new-found grit.

“Next year I’ll be ready to step in there and run the show,” he said.

Lynch has made similar strides, but in different areas.

Last season, Lynch says, he hit “like a goofy-footed, ex-basketball player.”

Probably because that’s exactly what he was. The Festival marks the end of Lynch’s first full year on the volleyball circuit.

It shows. Against the West, Coach Artie Ball cited Lynch’s blocking at the net as one of the key elements in the North’s win.

At Crespi High, Lynch was best known as a power forward for the Celt basketball team. However, recruiters didn’t seem to be wearing a path to his door.

“I wanted to go to a Division I school,” Lynch said. “I had a good (Scholastic Aptitude Test score) and I had the study skills to go to a good college. I just needed a sport.”

So he turned to volleyball.

John Price, CSUN’s volleyball coach, just happens to be a Crespi alumnus. He offered Lynch a scholarship thinking that it would probably be a year or two before he got a return on his investment.

But before the season was a month old, Lynch was in the lineup for good.

Along with Kyman, who was already considered a top player, Lynch and Reznick form the nucleus of a team that should figure prominently in Division I volleyball for years to come.

“UCLA, Pepperdine or SC, they’re all so used to winning,” Lynch said. “But imagine if we ended up winning at Northridge.

“That would be great, to win a national championship at a school that had never won it. That would give the whole Valley a lift.”