Northridge Swept Away in a Hurry : College volleyball: Matadors lose in three games to Pepperdine in first round of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament after a pair of foot faults.

Cal State Northridge was down two games to none, but to a man the Matadors thought they had Pepperdine on the ropes Saturday in the opening round of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation men’s volleyball tournament.

With the vision of a stirring Northridge comeback still fresh in the minds of both teams, the Matadors took Pepperdine to game point four times in the third game before a sparse crowd in Stanford’s Maples Pavilion.

But given a toe, the Waves gave Northridge the boot.

Craig Hewitt, the Matadors’ senior middle blocker, had his serve twice negated by foot faults--the second time with Northridge ahead, 14-12--and the Waves took advantage to rebound for a victory that completed a sweep, 15-8, 15-8, 16-14.

Pepperdine (14-8) will meet second-ranked Stanford (18-9) in the tournament semifinals Monday at 8 p.m.

Northridge ended its season with a record of 17-10.

“We just gave it to them at the end of the third game,” Northridge Coach John Price said. “Two foot faults? That’s ridiculous.”

The front of Hewitt’s foot was barely over the line on both occasions, but against an old nemesis, Northridge was left with precious little margin for error.

Pepperdine, loser of both regular-season matches against the Matadors, was a far better squad than the one Northridge previously had seen.

“They raised their level, but that’s what you’re supposed to do in the playoffs,” said Price, whose team swept the Waves at Pepperdine in March and came back from a 2-0 deficit to win in five games at Northridge not two weeks ago.

“If we raise our level like we’re supposed to, we beat that team.”

Poor serving brought the Matadors down in the first game, erratic hitting in the second and ill-timed mistakes in the third.

“We picked a bad day to have a bad day,” Price said.

Yet until the very end, the Matadors seemed poised for a comeback that never came.

“If we ever got a game or got over that hump, they would have been a different team with pressure on them,” Price said of Pepperdine. “But we never put pressure on them. We made so many mistakes, we didn’t allow them to make any.”

Dain Blanton, a senior outside hitter, paced Pepperdine with a match-high 21 kills and a .514 attacking percentage. Greg Shankle added 17 kills for the Waves.

Oliver Heitmann led Northridge with 19 kills and a .421 attacking percentage. Jon Baer added 14 kills, but he also had eight attacking errors and a percentage of only .207.

Baer sparked Northridge’s previous victory over Pepperdine by coming off the bench to record 34 kills, 10 digs and nine blocks. This time he was a starter, replacing freshman Jason Hughes, who missed a week of practice with strep throat.

Hughes replaced Baer with Northridge trailing, 9-2, in the second game. Hughes finished with seven kills and four blocks.