COLLEGE VOLLEYBALL WIVA TOURNAMENT : Northridge Rally Stuns Long Beach

Down two games to none and clearly outclassed, Cal State Northridge could have folded Friday night in the Western Intercollegiate Volleyball Assn. semifinals at UC Irvine’s Bren Center.

But the Matadors fought back with the emotion that has characterized their best efforts of the season and upset Cal State Long Beach, the No. 1-ranked defending NCAA champion, 6-15, 4-15, 15-10, 17-15, 15-12.

Northridge (19-11), seeded sixth in the tournament, will play Stanford (22-3) tonight at 7:30 for a berth in the NCAA final four.

“I’ve never felt such joy in my life,” said Northridge All-American middle blocker Coley Kyman. “I knew we could do it. I knew we could do it.”

Kyman knocked down a match-high 37 kills with tremendous play throughout. He carried the Matadors in the first two games and stepped up with power kills and off-speed dinks off sets by Matt Unger at key points throughout the third and fourth games.

Axel Hager also played a key role, catching fire in the third game and dominating the fourth and fifth games en route to a career-high 34 kills.

In the decisive fifth game in which sideout scoring was not used, Northridge fell behind 5-3, 9-6 and 10-8 before tying it, 10-10, on kills by Ken Lynch and Hager. The Matadors took their first lead, 11-10, on a triple block by Hager, Lynch and Craig Hewitt.

Though the 49ers responded quickly for a 12-11 lead, Northridge rallied again with four straight points--kills by Hager and Lynch, a block by Hewitt and Hager and, on match point, a block by Unger and Hewitt of Brett Schroeder’s kill attempt--for the improbable victory.

“We still had a lot of confidence when we were down 2-0 because we hadn’t been playing that badly,” Northridge Coach John Price said. “Long Beach was just playing that great, they were kicking our butts. We knew if we could hang in there they might be a little bit human.”

After lopsided losses in those first two games, the Matadors finally took a stand in the third game, gaining their first lead of the match at 5-4 on a block by Kyman and Lynch. The 49ers tied it at 10, but Kyman halted their rally with a thundering kill from the left side and the Matadors pushed their advantage to 12-10 on a one-hit kill by Kyman.

After 12 sideouts, the Matadors wrapped it up on a hitting error by the 49ers (27-4), a kill by Kyman, and on game point, a spectacular dump by Kyman with his back to the net.

The newly revived Matadors battled fiercely in the fourth game, which was marked by drawn-out points and extensive series of sideouts. Neither team led by more than two points and it was tied eight times.

Northridge trailed 15-14, fought off the match point, tied it at 15 and won after a pair of kills by Hager gave Northridge the serve.