COLLEGE VOLLEYBALL PREVIEW : CSUN Taking Hits Before First Volley Fired

The Cal State Northridge men’s volleyball team has been practicing twice a day for the past two weeks, but its fate this season might be determined elsewhere on campus.

Three key members of the team, including top recruit Jason Hughes, are enrolled in interim classes, struggling to regain their academic eligibility.

Hughes, left-side hitter Cameron Green and middle blocker Ed Bond will be sidelined when Northridge opens its season today with pool play at the UC Santa Barbara tournament.

Of the three, only Hughes, a freshman hitter from Royal High, is a starter. But Green and Bond are top reserves.

“With young teams you have inconsistencies, and that’s where depth becomes a bigger factor,” said Coach John Price, who last season guided Northridge to a 23-10 record and a berth in the NCAA title match.

Indeed, if the Matadors are anything, they are young. Of 19 players on the roster, 14 are freshmen or sophomores.

As a result, Northridge has been toppled from the ranks of collegiate giants. Despite being ranked among the top four in the final poll the past four seasons, the Matadors begin the season unranked by one publication and tabbed ninth by another.

Price considers the snub a “lack of respect thing,” but the players say they have grown accustomed to working their way up.

“It’s a chronic thing with our team,” said Gary Reznick, one of two seniors bidding to take over for Matt Unger at setter. “Every season we come out either low in the polls or not in them at all. And we always come out with something to prove.”

Northridge faces this season without Coley Kyman, a three-time All-American, anchoring the middle. And without two-time All-Americans Ken Lynch and Axel Hager as front-line bookends. And without the fiery Unger running the show.

“That’s the other side, that’s why we are where we are in the rankings,” Price said. “We lost our four best players. If you think about it logically and rationally, we’ve done nothing to deserve being higher.”

Middle blocker Craig Hewitt and left-side hitter Peter Piexoto are the only returning starters.

“They’re both good players, but hardly household names, even in the volleyball community,” Price said.

Hewitt, a 6-foot-7 senior, last season had a .447 attacking percentage--remarkably similar to the success-ratio Kyman enjoyed with a team-best .453 hitting average. Kyman often was double-teamed while Hewitt hit against one defender.

Price expects Hewitt and Piexoto to contribute consistently now that they have moved into leadership roles.

Another on-court leader will be the survivor of a duel at setter between Reznick and Chris McGee, both fifth-year seniors.

Reznick was a starter as a freshman and Unger’s understudy the following two seasons before redshirting last year. McGee redshirted his first season, was third setter the next two campaigns and was Unger’s backup last season.

“They both will play and get their chances,” said Price, who plans to alternate the two today and Saturday in the tournament. “The winner will be whoever is most consistent during January.”

Gene Urcan, a redshirt sophomore, replaces Kyman in the middle. Collin Smith, a freshman from Soquel High near Santa Cruz, steps in for Hager.

Urcan’s quick hitting skills make him a prime offensive threat, but at 6-foot-4 he is somewhat short for a top blocker. Smith, also 6-4, was voted most valuable player on a U.S. Junior National Team that toured Canada last summer.

When--or if--Hughes becomes eligible, he is likely to take over at opposite hitter, a spot patrolled for the past four seasons by Lynch. Hughes is 6-7 and already fairly polished. Price considered him “the best high school player in the country last year.”

Despite the team’s youth, Price is convinced the Matadors have enough talent to repeat their Cinderella script of last spring.

“Our goal is to do what we did last year,” he said. “To get better as the year goes on and peak at the end.”

UCLA last season earned the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation’s automatic berth to the final four. Northridge, MPSF tournament champion, also advanced to the final four. The Bruins defeated the Matadors in the NCAA championship match before a crowd of 8,482 at Pauley Pavilion.

Price said UCLA, which is top-ranked again this season, is poised for a repeat performance.

“UCLA is head and shoulders above everybody else,” he said. “They have the best talent every year.”

UCLA, Brigham Young and USC have the most experience in what should be a rebuilding year for many of the nation’s perennially strong programs.

Northridge is among those programs, but Matador players believe their preseason ratings are not indicative of the team’s talent.

“A lot of guys were pretty upset about the rankings, but to me it only means that we have a lot to prove and nothing to lose,” McGee said.