CSUN Has Plenty in Reserve for George Mason

With his team down one game and trailing 1-13 in the second, Cal State Northridge volleyball Coach John Price benched his starters and checked six reserves into the match.

The plan worked for the Matadors, who came back to beat George Mason, 10-15, 14-16, 15-6, 15-6, 15-12, in a nonconference match at the Matador gym on Thursday. The victory gives Northridge a seven-game winning streak and a 12-5 record. George Mason, a member of the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Assn., is 13-3.

The reserves scored 12 consecutive points in the second game and tied the score at 13-13. An ace by Northridge junior middle blocker Ed Bond gave the Matadors a 14-13 lead. Northridge served for game point five times, but could not seal the victory. George Mason’s Scott Kinloch then served three consecutive points for the game.

Price kept his second team intact through the third game. He put senior middle blocker Oliver Heitmann back in midway through the fourth game. Heitmann seemed out of sync, missing easy shots and blocks when he was issued a red card and ejected from the second game for arguing an official’s call.

Senior middle blocker Jon Baer, the team’s best hitter and blocker, didn’t play because he was serving a one-game suspension for storming out of practice on Tuesday. Two other starters--outside hitters Jason Hughes and Peter Piexoto--were brought in midway through the final game which helped Northridge seal the victory.

Freshman outside hitter Chad Strickland led Northridge with 21 kills.