For Once, CSUN Women Feel at Home in NCAAs : Volleyball Coach Sees Neutral Court as an Advantage in 6th Straight Final Four Appearance

SACRAMENTO —  If there’s one thing that pleases Coach Walt Ker almost as much as his Cal State Northridge women’s volleyball team qualifying for its sixth straight appearance in the NCAA Division II Final Four, it is this:

None of the four teams will be playing on its home floor this weekend at Cal State Sacramento.

In an unprecedented move, the NCAA sent the division’s top four teams to four separate regionals last weekend. But one of them, No. 3-ranked Cal State Sacramento, was upset by North Dakota State and sent clear out of the tournament.

That may make for smaller, less enthusiastic crowds this weekend, but Ker isn’t complaining.

After beating Portland State in Lakeland, Fla., to win the Division II title in 1983, Ker had to take his team to Portland the last two years. Each time, Portland State beat the Lady Matadors in the final in front of a partisan home crowd.

“It’s really a disadvantage to play against an opposing crowd, so I’m very happy that we’re not going to have to face that factor,” Ker said. “Nobody will have any excuses. . . .

“It’s basically going to come down to the team that plays the best volleyball over the last two nights of the season.”

In today’s semifinals, No. 2-ranked UC Riverside (27-7) plays No. 8 North Dakota State (43-11) at 5:30 p.m. and No. 1 Northridge (36-5) meets No. 4 Nebraska Omaha (44-3) at 8 p.m.

The winners meet Saturday at 8 p.m. for the national championship.

Tonight’s CSUN-Omaha match is a rematch from last season, when Northridge beat the Lady Mavericks, 15-12, 16-14, 15-11, in the semifinals. “Even though it went three, I felt challenged by them,” Ker said. “I felt threatened by them the entire match.”

CSUN then lost to Portland State the next night and said goodby to its three-time All-Americans, Shelli Mosby and Heather Hafner. But Ker came back this season with perhaps the deepest of his eight CSUN teams, and the Lady Matadors won their fourth straight California Collegiate Athletic Assn. championship and regained their No. 1 ranking.

Omaha came back with a vengeance, too, beating Nebraska (No. 6 in Division I) in its opener and winning its fourth straight North Central Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship.

The Lady Mavericks have five starters back from last year’s team, but only four still start. The one who doesn’t, 5-3 junior Angie Oswald, lost her starting setter position at midseason to 5-9 senior Darla Melcher, a transfer from Nebraska, when Coach Janice Kruger switched from a two- to a one-setter alignment.

Among the returning starters is All-American Allie Nuzum, who will be making her third appearance in the Final Four. Nuzum, a 5-7 senior, was named North Central Region Player of the Year. She and sophomore Ruth Evans, a 6-0 outside hitter, are the Lady Mavericks’ top players.

Kruger, who was named Division II Coach of the Year on Tuesday by the Collegiate Volleyball Coaches Assn., said her team is bigger, more experienced and more confident than it was a year ago.

“Last year, we went across the front row with a 5-foot-3 setter and we had to do a lot to compensate in terms of defense,” Kruger said. “This year, Darla is more of a blocker, which helps out our defense. And she’s able to handle tight passes a little better.

“Our middle’s stronger and our setting position is stronger.”

Also, Kruger said, the Lady Mavericks are a year older, which should neutralize some of the nervousness they felt last season.

“We made an enormous amount of service errors against Northridge,” she said.

Kruger hasn’t seen Northridge this season except on videotape. “I expect pretty much the same thing,” she said. “They’re going to be big, strong, powerful.”

And playing on a neutral court.

Notes

Senior Karen Lontka, junior Angela Brinton and sophomore Sue Darcey of Cal State Northridge were named to the Collegiate Volleyball Coaches Assn. Division II All-American team at a banquet in Sacramento on Thursday night. Brinton and Lontka were named to the first-team and Darcey was named to the second-team. . . . The remainder of the first-team: Annie Kinss and Melanie Jones of UC Riverside; Ruth Evans and Allie Nuzum of Nebraska Omaha; and Audra Espinosa of Cal State Sacramento. Kinss was named player of the year. . . . Joyce Jackson of UC Riverside, the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. Player of the Year, was named to the second-team. . . . A national title would be the third in seven seasons for Northridge, which won the Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women Division II title in 1980 and the NCAA Division II title in 1983. The Lady Matadors finished third in 1981, and second in 1982, 1984 and 1985 in the NCAA tournament. . . . Riverside was the runner-up to CSUN in the CCAA and North Dakota State was runner-up to Nebraska Omaha in the North Central Conference. North Dakota State is 0-5 against Nebraska Omaha this season. . . . Portland State, the two-time defending national champion, was eliminated in the regionals last week by North Dakota State.