CSUN No Match for 6th-Ranked Santa Barbara

So much for the hope that UC Santa Barbara might look past Cal State Northridge in Tuesday night’s nonconference women’s volleyball match at Matador Gymnasium.

The Gauchos entered the match as the No. 6-ranked team in the nation after defeating then second-ranked Cal State Long Beach on Saturday and backed it up with a 15-4, 15-3, 16-14 victory over the Matadors.

“I though there was a chance they might overlook us,” Northridge Coach John Price said. “I was kind of hoping they would, but obviously they didn’t.”

The Matadors (8-11) were overwhelmed in the first two games, but had leads of 9-6 and 14-13 in game three. But after Heather Anderson’s serve went wide left at game point for Northridge, Santa Barbara (17-2) responded with three consecutive points with Brazilian Ana Elisa Franca serving.

The Gauchos’ final point came when the Matadors’ Aimee Stone was whistled for a back-row hitter violation.

“You’ve got to be kidding,” Northridge senior Molly McLaughlin said in disbelief to referee Diane Uribe after she made the call. When Uribe wasn’t, the Matadors had suffered their second loss in a row and third in four matches.

“Just about every match we’ve lost this year, I’ve been able to look back and see things that we did wrong to lose it,” Price said. “But today, that wasn’t the case, particularly in the first two games. They just executed very well. They’re very athletic.”

Santa Barbara dissected the Matador defense by hitting .321 in the first game and .476 in the second game while failing to make an error.

The Gauchos’ domination was so complete in the second game that they went through their service rotation only once before Heather Collins served for game point at the start of the second rotation.

Stone had 10 kills and 12 digs for Northridge, which hit only .125.