Northridge Sweeps Way Into Final

Nancy Ma’s back was sore all week.

And it probably will be again today because the sophomore outside hitter from China practically carried the Cal State Northridge women’s volleyball team to a 15-3, 15-7, 15-9 victory over Northern Arizona in the semifinals of the Big Sky tournament Friday night at Northridge.

Ma racked up 23 kills, including eight in the first game, to send the Matadors on their way to the sweep and into the tournament championship match.

Top-seeded Northridge (21-10) faces second-seeded Cal State Sacramento (23-9) in the final at 7 tonight. At stake will be the conference’s lone automatic berth in the 48-team NCAA tournament.

“I felt like I had to do my best in order for us to win and play tomorrow,” Ma said through an interpreter.

Ma’s best was more than enough to help break the collective back of Northern Arizona (14-17), which suffered its third loss to Northridge this season despite 23 kills by Tami Burchard and six from former Royal High standout Jenny Treglown.

Besides all the kills, Ma collected a match-high 22 digs and came through at key junctions in every game.

“Nancy’s excellent,” Coach Lian Lu said. “She’s awesome.”

The rest of the Matadors weren’t too bad, either.

Middle blocker Getty Dimitrova had 18 kills and seven blocks and junior swing hitter Allwyn Fitzpatrick had 12 kills, 16 digs and four blocks.

“I think everyone came out fired up,” Fitzpatrick said. “We knew overall were were a better team than Northern Arizona. We just had to come out and prove it.”

Northern Arizona put up a fight only in the third game, when the Lumberjacks took their only leads of the match. But Ma and Dimitrova brought the Matadors back from 4-3 and 7-4 deficits to win.

Ma also was the catalyst in the second game. With the score tied, 7-7, she made a kill to break the deadlock and help Northridge close out with the last eight points.

Cal State Sacramento d. Montana, 9-15, 15-13, 6-15, 15-10, 15-9--Outside hitter Jill Haas, the Big Sky player of the year, had 21 kills and 17 digs for Sacramento in a semifinal match.