CSUN Comes Up Empty in the Final : Women’s Team Settles for 2nd Place Again in Division II Volleyball

SACRAMENTO —  On the lapel of her jacket Saturday night Sue Gozansky wore a button that read: “I know what my problem is T’s yours?”

If the question had been directed at the Cal State Northridge women’s volleyball team, the answer would have been: “They’re too numerous to mention.”

For the third straight year, the Lady Matadors came up empty at the NCAA Division II championships.

This time, they barely put up a fight.

Gozansky’s UC Riverside team overwhelmed them, 15-9, 15-6, 15-6, to win the national title before a crowd of about 450 at Cal State Sacramento.

It was a shockingly one-sided victory by the Highlanders, who lost twice to Northridge in conference play, including a three-game sweep by CSUN last month that gave the Lady Matadors their fourth straight California Collegiate Athletic Assn. championship.

Since 1970, the Highlanders have beaten Northridge only 8 times in 38 matches, but twice it has been for the national title--they also beat CSUN in the 1982 final.

“We just didn’t execute very well fundamentally,” Northridge Coach Walt Ker said in a gross understatement. “We weren’t good in any area. . . . On the converse, Riverside was outstanding in all areas.”

Riverside (29-7) needed only 75 minutes to complete the rout, which was accomplished with a hobbled but determined Annie Kniss, the Division II Player of the Year, providing the Highlanders with an emotional lift.

Kniss, who sprained her left ankle Friday night in Riverside’s semifinal victory over North Dakota State and had to be carried from the gym, was on crutches all day Saturday.

A doctor told her she could play if she could take the pain, but even as she warmed up, Kniss wasn’t sure she’d be able to.

“I was scared to death,” she said. But, “once I got started, I didn’t think about it again. I tried to talk about anything else and not worry about it.”

Kniss had only six kills, but All-American Melanie Jones and all-tournament selection Sheri Benson more than made up for her ineffectiveness.

“We were ready to play without her,” Gozansky said of Kniss, “but I’m sure that her desire got the rest of the team going.”

Jones’ .400 attacking percentage included a match-high 23 kills--only nine fewer than Northridge had as a team--and Benson, a setter-hitter, put down 56.3% of her 16 kill attempts.

Riverside forced the action against the Lady Matadors (37-6), whose ineptitude was reflected in their .087 attacking percentage. CSUN’s Anna Garcia, a three-year starter, had an attacking percentage of minus-.136.

Ker benched Garcia for most of the second and third games as he tried in vain to find an effective combination. Northridge scored only 8 of its 21 points without the aid of a Riverside error and most of the rallies were short as the Lady Matadors sprayed passes all over the gym and made numerous hitting errors.

“They didn’t seem ready,” Gozansky said of the Lady Matadors, who split four matches against Riverside this season, losing in the final of an October tournament in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Northridge jumped out to 3-1 and 4-2 leads in the first game and was ahead, 2-0, in the second, but never led at any other point.

Riverside scored the last six points of the first game and had runs of 11 straight points in the second game and eight straight in the third.

“I don’t know why they had so many problems,” Gozansky said, “but I know that we played very well on our side of the net.”

On the other side, it was a nightmare.

Notes

Nebraska Omaha beat North Dakota State, 15-4, 15-10, 15-3, in the consolation match. Omaha was 6-0 against the Bison this season. . . . Omaha All-American Allie Nuzum, on her team’s emotional five-game loss to Cal State Northridge in the semifinals Friday night: “We just went back to our rooms afterward, and all we could do was just sit there. We tried to talk about it, but we decided, what can you say? We played our best, and at that point in time, it didn’t happen for us . . . When you don’t reach your goal, it’s just real hard to handle, even though we can’t feel bad about the way we played. It just hurts.”. . . . Nuzum, whose 32 kills and .371 attacking percentage against Northridge were easily the best stats of the match, believes the Lady Mavericks are better than CSUN. “We had two key players playing with the flu,” she said. . . . Middle blocker Lori Schutte and top reserve Katy Ehrich both played against CSUN, but were ineffective. Of Schutte, Omaha Coach Janice Kruger said: “After the first series of blocking moves, she was bent over already.”. . . . Anna Garcia led Northridge with 20 kills against Omaha. Sue Darcey had 19, Karen Lontka had 15 (and a team-high .294 attacking percentage) and Chris Tedeschi had 14. . . . all-tournament team: Angela Brinton (Cal State Northridge); Darla Melcher and Allie Nuzum (Nebraska Omaha); Melanie Jones, Joyce Jackson and Sheri Benson (UC Riverside).