Northridge Gains Revenge Against Riverside

Streaks and playoff hopes were kept alive Tuesday night as the seventh-ranked Cal State Northridge women’s volleyball team defeated top-ranked UC Riverside, 5-15, 15-10, 9-15, 15-12, 15-8, in an important California Collegiate Athletic Assn. match at Northridge.

Northridge (17-9 overall, 5-3 in conference play) has won 53 consecutive home matches in CCAA play. The Lady Matadors are in third place in the conference behind Riverside (16-3, 6-2) and Chapman (24-2, 7-0).

Northridge’s victory was its fifth in a row and seventh in its past eight matches.

And just as they did last Friday against Cal State Bakersfield, the Lady Matadors won by outlasting an opponent that had defeated them four weeks ago in the first round of conference play.

Riverside, in fact, had beaten the Lady Matadors twice this season, including in a match at the Northridge Invitational in September.

“We talked about Riverside all the time,” said Northridge middle blocker Marianne Dixon, who played an inspired match off the bench and recorded 10 kills. “We’re sick of talking about their defense. We want to talk about our defense now.”

Riverside Coach Sue Gozansky talked about the Lady Matadors’ defense--and just about every other facet of their game--while explaining her team’s loss.

“They set the middle better, they hit the middle better, they hit to the outside better, their defense was better, they served better and they passed better,” Gozansky said without pause.

More than anything else, however, Northridge players believed that they were better.

“Right now, we have the feeling where you know you’re not going to lose,” said Northridge setter Alison Wool, a freshman who continues to perform as if she has been playing at the collegiate level for four years. “We kept that feeling throughout the whole game.

“We didn’t have that at the beginning of the season so much, but now whenever we play, we have the feeling that in the end, we’re going to come out ahead.”

With the match tied at two games each, Northridge bolted to a 7-0 lead in the fifth game behind the serving of Alissa Evans and Keira Middleton and the hitting of Kathleen Dixon, who had a team-high 18 kills.

Northridge had six service aces in the final game, including one on match point by freshman middle blocker Nancy Nicholls.

“We’ve been turning it around the last couple of weeks,” Marianne Dixon said, “and I think tonight we showed that we’re a contender now and that we’re going to win nationals.”

Northridge will play last-place Cal State Dominguez Hills (7-15, 0-6) tonight at Dominguez Hills.

Jill Daniels led Riverside with a match-high 19 kills. Sheri Benson added 16 kills for the Highlanders.