Matadors Ready to Pick Up the Pieces of 1999

It was record-setting time at Cal State Northridge last season, though few envisioned it would be like this.

The Northridge men’s volleyball team finished 3-21, easily the worst record in school history. (Runner-up: the 1984 squad was 10-19.)

The Matadors lost a school-record 13 consecutive matches, going winless in March and 0-3 in April until a four-game victory over UC Santa Barbara in a streak-breaking season finale.

In Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play, Northridge was 2-17, defeating only UC San Diego in a conference opener and Santa Barbara nearly three months later.

For obvious reasons, the memories of last season aren’t particularly pleasant for the Matadors.

“We’d compete up to a point, but when it got tight, we broke down,” said outside hitter Junior Mosones, whose kills dropped from 389 in 1998 to 244 last season.

“A lot of times we didn’t have confidence going for us. It made it seem like a long season.”

It was the final by-product of June 1997, when the volleyball team and three other men’s sports at Northridge were eliminated for gender-equity and budget reasons.

All four sports were reinstated within three months thanks in part to a strong public outcry, but the men’s volleyball team suffered irreversible damage. Matador players transferred and the recruiting process stalled.

Northridge was respectable in 1998 because second-team All-American Chad Strickland returned, but after his graduation, the growing pains began.

Three freshmen and a sophomore started last season for the Matadors, who were swept 13 times.

“The way I see it is last year we were a first-year program,” said Coach Jeff Campbell. “It was a clean slate. This is a second-year program, basically.”

Eckhard Walter, a 21-year-old sophomore from Germany, will again be the focal point on offense. The 6-foot-10 opposite hitter had 496 kills last season, more than double any other player on the Matadors, and averaged 6.12 kills per game, the fifth-highest mark in Northridge history.

Another sophomore, J.P. Jandreau, had 188 kills, third on the team, and 119 digs, second on the team.

Jandreau also had 41 reception errors, a negative passing stat that also plagued Mosones, who had 56 reception errors in his first season as a primary passer.

Their improvement on defense is critical for the Matadors.

“To be a primary passer, you need at least two years experience at this level,” Campbell said.

They’re about to get that second year.

The Matadors, who open their season tonight with a nonconference home match against La Verne, will have a very similar look.

Setter John Baxter, a former standout at Royal High, begins his junior season in third place on the Northridge career assist list with 2,480.

Senior Adam Black saw his kills dip and his blocking errors increase last season, but he provides a fiery demeanor at middle blocker.

The other starter at middle blocker is former Kennedy High standout Jeff Toon, who improved his offensive attack as a redshirt last season.

Senior Pat Lufrano will play the Libero position, which makes its debut in college volleyball this season. Used in international volleyball the past year, the Libero can substitute freely, as long as he is in the back row.

Not everything is positive for the Matadors. Steve Russell, who had 150 kills and 63 blocks last season as a freshman, quit the team. And incoming freshman Cam Dickson, from Royal, is academically ineligible.

Still, the feeling among the Matadors seems unanimous. The worst part is over.

“I think we’re going to be much more competitive than last year,” Walter said. “We had some bad losses, for sure. We were a really young team. We still will have some stupid mistakes this season, but we’ll do better than last season.”

Northridge will get an indication tonight of how far it has come. La Verne, a Division III program, beat the Matadors in the 1999 opener.