Northridge Rights Itself in Win Over Ohio State

Early in the second game of Cal State Northridge’s volleyball match against Ohio State on Wednesday night the Police song “Sending Out An SOS” began blaring over the loudspeaker.

It was appropriate at the time, because the S.S. Matador had sprung a Woody Hayes-sized leak and was sinking fast.

Fortunately for Northridge, Mark Root and Matt Unger sailed to the rescue, rallying the Matadors to a five-game victory over stubborn Ohio State in a nonconference match at CSUN. The scores were 7-15, 15-10, 13-15, 15-9, 15-10.

The match, pitting the unranked Buckeyes against the fourth-ranked Matadors, was not expected to be close and did little to enhance West Coast volleyball’s reputation.

Northridge, after all, competes in the Western Intercollegiate Volleyball Assn., which boasts nine of the nation’s top 10 teams. But the Matadors (16-6) will take the win, ugly or no.

“We weren’t expecting a tough match, and we just didn’t come to play,” said Neil Coffman, who led Northridge with 23 kills and 11 digs. “I guess we were expecting it to be easy, and then we couldn’t get the car in gear.”

Northridge did not return home from Tuesday night’s four-game WIVA defeat to third-ranked San Diego State until 2 a.m. Wednesday, and Price was not sure how his club would respond against Ohio State.

“I think we underestimated Ohio State,” Price said. “Once we realized we were in trouble, we fought real hard, but it almost wasn’t good enough.”

Northridge, coming off four consecutive WIVA matches against top-10 competition, got off to a slow start against the Buckeyes (15-7).

The Matadors fell behind, 10-3, in the first game and could not recover, losing by an embarrassing eight points.

Northridge did just about everything wrong in the first game, including five service errors, numerous net violations and poor sets and poor passing.

But the Matadors battled back in the second game, erasing a 3-0 deficit and rolling to an 8-3 lead behind Coffman, who had a game-high seven kills after just two kills in the opening game. Northridge let Ohio State get as close as 11-10, then scored the final four points, winning when Coley Kyman (22 kills, nine digs and a .589 hitting percentage) spanked a spike off Chuck Voss into the stands.

But Northridge was in trouble again in game three. The Buckeyes kept the pressure on and pulled out a 15-13 win when Rob Burton sent a spike down the middle that Ken Lynch was unable to dig.

Enter Root, who was sidelined because of a bruised femur until game four. The senior hitter responded with seven kills to lead Northridge to the match-turning victory.

Setter Unger also played a role in the game-four win, adding five kills and several big digs.

“We were hoping to get by without using Mark. Obviously that wasn’t the case,” Price said. “He came in and did a great job.”

The fifth game, played under fast-scoring rules, was close until CSUN broke away from a 7-7 tie and rolled to an 11-8 advantage. Kyman played a large role in finally subduing the Buckeyes. He spiked for a point, combined with Terry Schrumpf to stuff Rob Burton and later drove a spike off David Frette to put CSUN ahead, 14-10.

The match-winner came moments later when Burton drove a spike attempt into the net.

Raphael Tulino added 19 kills, eight digs and two service aces for Northridge, and Root had six digs in his limited playing time. Ken Lynch had 10 kills for CSUN and Bill Ortgiesen, who started for Root, added nine.

“A spark, that’s what we needed,” Root said. “I came in and did the job and we got the ‘W,’ but it wasn’t pretty.”