San Diego State Edges Cal State Northridge

In a match that both teams said the other tried to give away, Cal State Northridge proved the more gracious as San Diego State accepted a 17-15, 15-12, 9-15, 15-12 victory Tuesday night at San Diego State.

It was a match between the nation’s No. 3 and No. 4 teams as voted on by the coaches. And yes, the higher-ranked SDSU will keep its spot, although Northridge might feel it is more deserving.

“I feel like it was a match we should have won,” Northridge Coach John Price said. “But we ended up making some stupid mistakes and gave the match away.”

Although the Aztecs accepted the victory, they weren’t happy about it.

“If we play this way Thursday,” SDSU Coach Jack Henn said about a game against No. 1-ranked and undefeated USC, “If the game starts at 7:30, we’ll be on the freeway back home by 8:15.”

How upset was Henn about his team’s play.

“He’s going to make us run the stairs,” junior middle blocker John Ross said. “He just told everyone to meet at the stairs now.”

It was Ross who ended the match with a block, or with what looked like a block, of a spike from his old high school rival Coley Kyman.

The two have been battling each other for several years--Ross attended Chatsworth High School while Kyman went to Reseda.

Ross said he anticipated the block before Greg Enerson lofted the serve.

“I told them before it happened that if it’s a good pass, I’m going for the block, that I was going to commit,” Ross said of a conversation he had with teammates before the play developed. “I just knew if it was a good pass the set would go to (Kyman). They were going to him all night.”

Sure enough, Matt Unger’s set went to the middle of the net where Kyman leaped, wound up and smacked the ball . . . right into the forearms of Ross.

“But it wasn’t a block,” Kyman said. “The referees (Tom Saunders and John Nellans) missed the call. It was on their side of the net. If it came down on our side, it would have hit me, but it didn’t hit me.

“But forget that last play, because they played a great match. They deserved to win.”

That was a minority opinion. Even Hennn pointed out, “I’m sure they out-played us statistically.”

True, Northridge barely outweighed SDSU in the one statistic that matters--kills. Northridge finished with 91 to the Aztecs’ 85.

SDSU’s Mike Mattarocci led everyone with 28 kills. Next in line were Northridge’s Neil Coffman with 25 and Kyman with 20.