Kyman Eager for One Final (Four) Chance

After reaching the Western Intercollegiate Volleyball Assn. tournament final for the first time, Cal State Northridge will play next season with its team nearly intact.

Starting outside hitter Mike Mesnik is the lone senior on a team that finished 19-12 and rallied from a two-game deficit to defeat top-ranked and defending NCAA champion Cal State Long Beach in the WIVA tournament semifinals.

Even in the Matadors’ 17-15, 15-7, 15-10 loss to Stanford in the final, the resilience they showed against Long Beach played on the minds of the Cardinal.

“We had to keep it going the whole time because we stayed (Friday) night and we saw (Northridge) come back,” Stanford outside hitter Duncan Blackman said. “Northridge is a team that capitalizes on the emotion of the moment. They easily turn a spark into a fire.”

If the Matadors remain a close-knit group, next season could be the one they advance to the NCAA final four.

“Next year is my last year, we have no choice but to win it,” Northridge middle blocker Coley Kyman said.

FIRE SALE

One reason WIVA T-shirts were selling briskly at the tournament might have been the fact that next season the WIVA will be called the Mountain Pacific Conference.

The change is part of the BigWacPac, an agreement among three conferences--the Big West, the Western Athletic and the Pacific 10--and several independents, including Northridge, to align non-revenue sports in the West.

Dennis Farrell, assistant commissioner of the Big West, will administrate the Mountain Pacific Conference. The WIVA had been operated by the volleyball coaches.

CALIFORNIA DREAM

Northridge basketball Coach Pete Cassidy’s goal of recruiting an out-of-state impact player next season is fueled by the belief that the sun and beaches of Southern California are more alluring to a Midwestern player than to a native Californian.

“It is hard to keep some of the top kids in California,” Cassidy said. “They’ve lived in California all their lives. There is no mystique for them.”

A drawback to signing an out-of-state player is the increased cost of out-of-state tuition. It would force Northridge to sign fewer players.

Cassidy is no fan of the wave of NCAA regulations over the past three years that have severely limited the opportunities coaches have to scout and talk with recruits.

“If I’m on an eight-day road trip during one of the (NCAA-approved) 10-day (recruiting) periods, that inhibits my ability to recruit and the players’ ability to be seen,” Cassidy said.

NO WORD

Northridge right-hander Steven Morales is still awaiting word from doctors on the extent of the injury he sustained in the forearm and elbow area of his pitching arm.

The arm has been tested for muscle and ligament damage, but none has been found. Morales has been told the injury might be a stress fracture.

Morales, 4-1 with a 2.43 earned-run average and 66 strikeouts in 63 innings, will be sidelined at least until May.

HOT PROPERTY

Kevin Kloek chose to attend Northridge this season, spurning an offer to sign with the California Angels. His stay might be short-lived, however. Kloek, a junior right-hander who is the Matadors’ hardest thrower, continues to draw substantial interest from professional scouts.

When Northridge played host to Southern Utah last Friday, more than a dozen scouts were on hand--as well as the scouting directors from four teams.

BY THE BOOK

Northridge Coach Bill Kernen made an unusual change in the 12th inning of the Matadors’ 3-1 loss to California on Tuesday. He pinch-hit for his cleanup batter. With runners at first and second with two out, Kernen replaced left-handed-hitting Scott Mowl with freshman switch-hitter Jason Shanahan.

Shanahan, facing left-hander Scott Toomey, hit a soft liner, but Golden Bear right fielder Nate Brown made a sliding catch.

Mowl, batting .344 and averaging a home run every 10 at-bats, was 0 for 3 against left-handers during the game.

REUNITED

Bill Mazurie, who signed with Northridge out of high school but left after one season, has been reunited with the coach who recruited him. Mazurie, who helped Cerritos College win the state junior college basketball championship, signed with Loyola Marymount on Tuesday.

Dave Fehte, who recruited Mazurie to Northridge, is the top assistant at Loyola Marymount.

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Laree Reynolds was always the understudy, never the star. But the spotlight finally beamed down on her this season when she became starting shortstop on the Cal Lutheran softball team.

From her position in the outfield at Newbury Park High, she longed to play shortstop. But as a junior, she watched Beth Calcante, who now plays at Cal State Northridge, play shortstop for the Panthers. A year later, standout shortstop Marcie James helped lead Newbury Park to the Southern Section 5-A Division final.

In Reynolds’ freshman season at Cal Lutheran, the job belonged to senior Kim White. This year, Reynolds made her pitch for the position but still had some convincing to do. Although Cal Lutheran Coach Teri Rupe was hesitant, she awarded Reynolds the position over center fielder Brenda Frafjord. “It’s one of the best decisions I could have made as a coach,” Rupe said. “She just keeps getting better every day.”

Reynolds was named most valuable player in the UC San Diego tournament last week after she led the Regals to a second-place finish. Cal Lutheran, an NCAA Division III program, lost to Division II Cal State Hayward, 8-0, in the championship game.

LOST THE SPARK

Cal Lutheran and The Master’s were fierce rivals when both were independent teams in the NAIA District 3. But coaches from each team agree that this year, after Cal Lutheran joined the NCAA Division III, the rivalry dimmed.

“We enjoy playing them and it is still a good game,” The Master’s Coach Chris Harrison said, “but it’s not like it was, say, last year or the year before.”

Said Cal Lutheran Coach Rich Hill: “It was so intense for a couple of years because the winner of that series went to the playoffs. They are such a quality team that it is always great to play them.”

This season’s two games were really no contest, however. Cal Lutheran (30-2), top ranked in the NCAA Division III, defeated The Master’s, 8-5, on Feb. 14, and, 6-4, on Tuesday. The Master’s is 14-23.

FOUND A HOME

Like a stray, Darin Brebes wandered from place to place before finally heading to The Master’s this season, and the Mustangs’ baseball team has put out the welcome mat.

Brebes, 23, played third base and shortstop at Atascadero High and Merced and Cuesta junior colleges. But Brebes left the sport--and school--for two years. Finally, he ended up at Hume Lake Christian Camp, where he heard about The Master’s.

Although Brebes chose the school for its religious instruction and did not intend to play baseball, he has been a welcome addition.

When third baseman Chad Hankinson underwent knee surgery in January and backup Russ Henzie was moved to designated hitter, Brebes took over.

“He’s a tremendous athlete and he’s just really been getting better and better with every week of the season,” Harrison said.

Brebes also hit three home runs last week and had two doubles and a single in a 6-4 loss to Cal Lutheran on Tuesday.

FAST FORWARD

The Cal State Northridge men’s 4 x 800-meter relay team of Michael Smith, Ed Alexander, Brian Godsey and Rik Provenzano moved to third on the all-time CSUN list when they timed 7 minutes 37.83 seconds and finished third in the event in the Mt. SAC Relays on Saturday. However, Northridge assistant Tony Veney already was looking ahead to next year when redshirt junior Troy Collins will compete for the Matadors.

“With Troy, you’re talking about a team that can run 7:25,” Veney said. “There’s no reason why they shouldn’t run that fast.”

Smith (1:51.13) and Provenzano (1:51.80) set personal bests in the 800 at Mt. SAC, and so did Collins (1:51.78), who ran unattached.

NO HOLDING BACK

The Cal State Northridge women’s 400-meter relay team has exceeded the provisional qualifying standard (45.90) in the event three times this season with a best of 45.67, but Veney believes that the mark will not be fast enough to qualify for the NCAA championships in Austin, Tex., in June.

“(A time of) 45.30 will make it,” Veney said. “A 45.67 (clocking) is not going to get in.”

The Northridge team of Dee Dee Small, Joy Polk, Erin Morris and Charlotte Vines finished second to Arizona State at Mt. SAC, but their time was a disappointing 45.85.

“They were just too tentative in their passing,” Veney said. “Everyone of them ran up the other’s back. . . . I feel like telling them it’s better to be aggressive and drop the baton than to run conservatively.”

Staff writers Mike Hiserman, Theresa Munoz, John Ortega and Wendy Witherspoon contributed to this notebook.