Friendship Aside, Sidekicks Took Sideouts on Opposite Sides

It was strange for Cal State Northridge setter Dan Nash to find himself on the opposite side of the net from Pepperdine outside hitter Kevin Barnett when the teams met Saturday at the UC Santa Barbara Collegiate Volleyball invitational.

Nash and Barnett were teammates and close friends on the Pierce College volleyball team for two years, and it was the first time a net came between them. As Brahmas, they played in numerous matches together--Pierce advanced to the playoffs in 1994 and ‘95--and hung out regularly off the court.

“I was trying to talk to him during the match, to get inside his head and get him off track,” Nash said. “But it didn’t work. He really stayed focused.”

Behind Barnett’s solid hitting, the Waves beat Northridge, 6-15, 15-11, 15-5, 15-11, to place third in the 24-team event. But all wasn’t lost for Nash, who had some spectacular moments against his taller buddy. Twice Nash, who is 6 feet, blocked the 6-5 Barnett’s powerful shots.

Each time the outspoken and intense Nash yelled and clenched his fists while the mild-mannered Barnett looked on and smiled.

Valley-ball: All of the key players--and we don’t mean the athletes--in the Pepperdine-Cal State Northridge match at last week’s UCSB invitational attended high school in the Valley.

Northridge Coach John Price went to Crespi, Pepperdine Coach Marv Dunphy went to Taft and both teams’ assistants--Northridge’s Jeff Campbell and Pepperdine’s Bill Lawler--attended Chatsworth.

Even the officials were Valley boys. Head referee Burt Fuller is an El Camino Real graduate and line referee Marvin Hall is a Cleveland grad.

What goes around: Michael Abraham has come full circle.

The first-year Cal State Northridge women’s basketball coach began the season saying he wanted to play an up-tempo style--whether he had the players for it--because that’s the style he hoped to play in the future.

A month into the season, though, Abraham changed his mind. He decided it was foolish to try to run an offense for which his team wasn’t equipped.

Now, he’s changed his mind again, reverting to his original plan.

“Early on I thought I had done the right thing by changing back to something more suitable for this team,” he said. “But now I think it is the worst thing I have done.”

Since returning to the up-tempo style, the Matadors lost two games by at least 30 points, but they beat Cal Poly San Luis Obispo on Friday.

“That was easily the most rewarding victory we’ve had this year,” Abraham said.

Honors

The Ventura College men’s basketball team has regained the top rung in the biweekly state poll after dropping to third two weeks ago.

Ventura (20-2) heads a list that includes Antelope Valley (17-6), ranked 11th, and Valley (17-7), 18th.

In the women’s poll, Ventura (22-0) remains first. Valley (17-9) is 19th.

Quotebook

“There are thousands of fliers but all of them seem to end up in the hands of female students.”

--Cal State Northridge men’s volleyball Coach John Price, on how his players distribute fliers advertising home volleyball matches.

“We told some old war stories. It was not quite like a wake, but close.”

--Pepperdine basketball assistant Carl Strong, describing Saturday’s late-night get-together of Wave coaches at the home of Tony Fuller, who had resigned as coach earlier in the day.

“He’s huge! He looks more like a football player than a volleyball player.”

--Volleyball referee Marvin Hall, referring to George Roumain, Pepperdine’s 6-foot-6, 230-pound freshman outside hitter.

Stats

The Master’s College point guard Mike Penberthy has scored 97 points in the Mustangs’ past three games entering tonight’s nonconference game at Cal State Dominguez Hills. Penberthy, a 6-2 junior from Fresno Hoover High, has made 29 of 50 shots during that stretch, including 21 of 35 from three-point range.

Things to Do

Crescenta Valley High basketball players from two eras return to the Valley tonight. The University of San Diego’s game against Cal State Northridge at 7 in Matador Gym will mean a homecoming for San Diego freshman guard Brock Jacobsen and Coach Brad Holland. Each played at Crescenta Valley, Jacobsen in the ‘90s and Holland in the ‘70s.

The ninth-ranked Pepperdine men’s volleyball team will play host to third-ranked UC Santa Barbara on Thursday at 7 p.m. in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match.

Contributing: Fernando Dominguez, Rob Fernas, Jeff Fletcher, Irene Garcia, John Ortega.