BYU Earns Revenge With Victory Over Northridge

John Price said it with a straight face, a clue that he might be serious.

“We played well and made them look bad,” the Cal State Northridge coach said. “They’re not nearly as bad as they looked tonight.”

Price’s comment came Monday, after the Northridge men’s volleyball team made short work of Brigham Young, dispatching the Cougars in three games.

About 24 hours later, Price, much to his chagrin, proved prophetic.

Brigham Young, with five players reaching double figures in kills, upset the fourth-ranked Matadors in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation rematch, 15-13, 15-6, 14-16, 15-11, before 628 in the Northridge gym.

For the third consecutive match, the Matadors (2-1, 2-1 in conference play), were without starters Ken Lynch and Craig Hewitt. Lynch, a four-year starter, has a back injury. Hewitt, the team’s leading blocker last season, was concluding a three-match disciplinary suspension.

But Price didn’t want to talk about the missing players. He was more concerned with his team’s short attention span.

“The team we have is good enough to beat BYU,” Price said. “They proved that last night. But they have to be tougher mentally. Everything that happened tonight points to poor concentration.”

The Matadors committed 24 service errors and made only six blocks to 18 for Brigham Young (1-3, 1-3). The first in a series of Northridge blunders took place in the opening game when the Matadors had 10 service errors. Still, Northridge outhit the Cougars .474 to .367.

Northridge’s attack didn’t collapse until the second game when the Cougars, led by Pat Sinclair and Scott Larkin, took an early lead and pulled away.

Among Northridge’s many problems was that poor passing led to a predictable offense. Coley Kyman and Axel Hager combined for 62 of the Matadors’ 92 kills.

“Our passing was great last night and very poor tonight,” said Matt Unger, Northridge’s setter.

Added Price: “Last night I said we were the best passing team in the country. . . . I take back my comment. And I beg forgiveness.”

Only a victory in the third game allowed Northridge to escape being swept at home, an embarrassment the Matadors haven’t endured since losing to USC midway through the 1991 season.

Kyman, playing with his right knee sore from arthroscopic surgery 2 1/2 weeks ago, had a .561 hitting percentage and a match-high 37 kills.

But even those numbers didn’t please Price.

“His (lack of) blocking killed us,” Price said. “Whether Coley has a good night or not depends on his blocking and defense. He’s always good offensively. You can’t judge his performance on hitting. Him hitting .500--and I know this sounds stupid--but it’s not that big a deal.”