CSUN to Play Santa Barbara in WIVA Tournament Opener

By virtue of losing to UC Santa Barbara in its final Western Intercollegiate Volleyball Assn. match Tuesday, Cal State Northridge avoided playing USC in the first round of the WIVA tournament.

Instead, the Matadors (10-6 in the WIVA) will meet UC Santa Barbara on Wednesday at 5 p.m. at UC Irvine’s Bren Center.

The Gauchos (9-7) have defeated CSUN twice in the past two weeks.

“It is kind of strange,” Northridge Coach John Price said. “I think I would rather play UCSB than SC because, although SC is supposedly not that strong, they beat us early. I think we’ll be more confident against UCSB.

“The way we’re playing, I guess it doesn’t matter who we play. We haven’t been getting it done.”

Price still is baffled by the Matadors’ slide after winning seven consecutive matches and leading the DeGroot Division on March 23. By April 7, the team had slumped to a third-place finish.

“Some of it is injuries,” Price said. “Some of it is scheduling. It threw us out of sync and we haven’t been able to get back into a rhythm. I still think we’re one of the best teams in the country if we get on track.”

In the bracket opposite Northridge, Stanford will play Hawaii at noon Wednesday and USC will meet UCLA at 2:30 p.m. The winners of those matches will meet Friday.

DeGroot Division winner Pepperdine will play Wilson Division winner Cal State Long Beach, the defending NCAA champion, with an automatic berth in the Final Four on the line.

The loser will play Friday against the winner of the Northridge-UCSB match. The WIVA tournament championship match, for a berth in the Final Four, is Saturday night at 7:30.