Houston Powers Past CSUN for Volleyball Title

Top-seeded Houston, utilizing a trio of powerful hitters, defeated second-seeded Cal State Northridge, 15-4, 15-12, 6-15, 15-6, to win the Women’s Invitational Volleyball Championship on Saturday night at the University of Tennessee.

Houston was led by senior Latisha Charles, who had 25 kills and 22 digs. Karen Bell added 25 kills and Ginger Wittofski slammed 13 to help the Cougars win the title.

Northridge advanced to the championship with a surprisingly easy 15-10, 15-6, 15-5 sweep of third-seeded Georgia in the semifinals Saturday morning. The Matadors needed only 65 minutes to eliminate the Bulldogs.

Houston (24-15) advanced by defeating fourth-seeded Memphis State, 12-15, 16-14, 15-3, 15-4.

CSUN was unable to get its offense going and had trouble containing the Cougar hitters. “Houston was a tremendous team, and they attacked exceptionally well,” Matador Coach Walt Ker said. “They are as good as any team we’ve faced all year. Bell, Charles and Wittofski were so athletic and explosive that we had trouble making the adjustments to block them.”

Northridge (29-9), which finished a successful first season of NCAA Division I competition, was led by all-tournament selections Kathleen and Marianne Dixon, who had 21 and 16 kills against the Cougars. Setter Beth Welch ended her collegiate career with 63 assists against Houston and was named the tournament’s most valuable player.

“I’m extremely proud of the year we’ve had,” Ker said. “Everyone did a great job for us. . . . I was thinking how nice . . . it was for our seniors to play in this tournament. The individual honors were an extra gift that Marianne, Kathleen and Beth worked very hard for.”

CSUN held Georgia to a .055 hitting percentage.

“We continued to play very focused,” Ker said. “From a defensive standpoint, we were ready to play from the first point to the last. They didn’t get too many balls down on us, because our digging was just phenomenal.”