COLLEGE NOTEBOOK : Price Wants Players to Assert Themselves

Now that the Cal State Northridge women’s volleyball team has passed the midway point of the regular season, Coach John Price hopes the Matadors (8-9) begin to play as aggressively in matches as they have all season in practice.

“It has taken longer than I expected it to in matches,” Price said after Northridge’s four-game victory over Cal Poly San Luis Obispo this week. “We’ve looked great in practice all season, but we haven’t been able to carry it over into games on a consistent basis. Hopefully that will change.”

JUNIOR COLLEGES: Glendale Turns Back the Clock

The Glendale women’s cross-country team bounced back from a third-place finish in the first Western State Conference meet of the season on Sept. 24 with a victory in the Bakersfield Invitational last week.

The Vaqueros, whose 65-point total placed them behind Cuesta (52) and Ventura (63) in the WSC meet, totaled 61 points at Bakersfield to turn back Mt. San Antonio College (69), Cuesta (84), Santa Monica (104) and Moorpark (139).

“We weren’t at full strength at the WSC meet and it showed,” Glendale women’s assistant Jon Gold said. “We basically ran without two of our top five runners.”

Freshman Louise Laker, who had been visiting relatives on the East Coast, was unable to catch a flight back to Los Angeles in time for the WSC meet. A knee injury slowed sophomore Margarita Renteria, who didn’t finish in the top 35.

Glendale’s victory at Bakersfield propelled the Vaqueros to 10th in this week’s Southern California women’s cross-country rankings, but WSC rivals Cuesta and Ventura were fourth and fifth. Antelope Valley is sixth.

Around the Campuses. . .

* After three games, the Antelope Valley football team still hasn’t scored in the third quarter. The Marauders, however, have saved their production for the fourth period, outscoring their opponents, 35-7.

* Former Crespi quarterback Cody Smith, now at Mt. San Antonio, leads the state in passing with a 172.7 rating. Smith has completed 72 of 108 passes for 1,057 yards and nine touchdowns.

* Aimee Stone, a junior transfer from Colorado State, is on pace to set a Northridge single-season record for kills per game. Stone, a 5-foot-10 outside hitter, is averaging 4.22 kills. Kristy Olson set the Matador record of 4.17 kills in 1984.

* Junior Ana Kristich has a team-high 82 block assists this season, and her career total of 221 puts her fourth on the all-time Matador list. She trails third-place Marianne Dixon, who played at Northridge from 1987-90, by one assist.

* Junior Missy Clements, who has 238 kills this season, ranks sixth on the all-time Northridge career list with 746.

Staff writers Fernando Dominguez and John Ortega contributed to this notebook.