COLLEGE VOLLEYBALL : Top-Ranked UCLA Sweeps Past Northridge

The top-ranked UCLA Bruins had little trouble Friday defeating ninth-ranked Cal State Northridge, 15-4, 15-5, 17-16, in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation game at the UCLA Volleyball Classic at Pauley Pavilion.

In the earlier game, sixth-ranked Long Beach State defeated No. 11 USC, 10-15, 15-8, 15-10, 15-11.

After losing the first game in about 10 minutes, Northridge (15-8, 11-6) showed no signs of improvement in the second. All five of its points in the second game came off errors by UCLA (21-1, 15-0).

The Bruins’ Jeff Nygaard had a match-high 28 kills and 11 blocks. Paul Nihipali had 20 kills.

Northridge’s only hopes of a comeback came in the third game, when UCLA Coach Al Scates gave a couple of starters some rest. The Matadors took a 13-8 lead.

By then, all the Bruin starters were on the floor. UCLA tied it at 13-13 and the teams exchanged leads until the end. At 16-16, Northridge senior middle blocker Oliver Heitmann was called for touching the net after a UCLA serve and the Bruins sealed the victory.

Long Beach (17-7) was led by junior middle blocker Tom Hoff’s 33 kills. Sophomore outside hitter Geoffrey Cryst had 26 kills and junior Oren Zaslansky added 15 for the 49ers, who will face UCLA in the tournament’s championship match tonight at 7:30.