CSUN Will Visit Far East in Volleyball Tournament

While many of the world’s best indoor volleyball players are spiking their way through the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, the Cal State Northridge men’s team will be in the thick of another top-notch tournament half way around the globe--in Indonesia.

Northridge, which finished 16-12 and was ranked No. 4 in the nation in the final Volleyball Magazine poll, has been chosen to represent Los Angeles at the Jakarta Sister Cities volleyball tournament July 15-22.

And the best news of all? “It doesn’t cost us a dime to do this trip,” Northridge Coach John Price said.

Corporate sponsorship has paid the team’s air fare, while all other expenses--food, lodging and transportation--will be picked up by the city of Jakarta.

“I know it’s going to be an awesome experience, not just for the volleyball, but for the cultural experience,” Price said. “These guys need to get out there and realize there is a world out there besides the United States.

“Most of these guys didn’t even have a passport.”

It is the first trip abroad for Northridge, which was chosen partly by a process of elimination. The NCAA allows a school to compete in only one foreign tournament every four years. UCLA and Long Beach State have played outside of the U.S. in the last four years.

Other teams invited to participate are from the cities of Jakarta, Beijing, Berlin, Seoul, Rotterdam, Tokyo and Eindhoven, the Netherlands. Northridge and a club team from Arkansas are the U.S. teams competing in the 10-team tournament. The Matadors will face Seoul in an opener July 15.

Players who were eligible last season are allowed to compete for Northridge. Chad Strickland, who will be working as a counselor at a summer camp, is the only Matador not making the trip.

Teammate Collin Smith, who said he’s been playing more pickup basketball than volleyball lately, won’t let anything keep him from the trip.

“I’ve never been out of the country,” said Smith, a 6-foot-4 junior outside hitter. “It should be a good experience and it should be competitive, so I’m fired up.”

Price, 37, who has traveled nearly everywhere except Indonesia, is excited about the trip to a country 12,000 miles away. But he won’t let his team forget its main objective.

“[Our tournament contact] said we’re going to make friends there and have a great cultural experience . . . and he’s right,” Price said. “But I’m going [to the tournament] to win.”