CSUN Trips Santa Barbara in Volleyball

It wasn’t so many years ago--one, maybe?--that Cal State Northridge looked forward to its home match against UC Santa Barbara for one reason only: a chance to salvage some respect by upsetting the perennially playoff-bound Gauchos.

However, there was no such sentiment before Wednesday night’s Western Intercollegiate Volleyball Assn. match at CSUN.

If there was to be an upset on this night, the Matadors knew, Santa Barbara would be the team celebrating.

Indeed, the balance of power in this rivalry appeared to have swung. There was just the formality of proving it.

Which is exactly what Northridge did in four games, 15-3, 15-7, 8-15, 15-8.

Santa Barbara, which was supposed to pose a major obstacle for CSUN, was instead a relatively small mogul on what now should be a downhill run for the Matadors, who are seeking their first postseason playoff berth.

The victory placed Northridge three full matches in front of Santa Barbara in the DeGroot Division.

The Matadors are 6-5 overall, 4-3 in WIVA play, and are in a second-place tie with Pepperdine, two games behind UCLA.

Santa Barbara dropped to 5-7, 1-6 in conference play--which, since Brigham Young and UC Irvine are winless in WIVA matches, is good enough for fourth place in the division. The top three squads qualify for postseason action.

“We knew this match was crucial for us in order to make the regionals,” said CSUN’s Neil Coffman, who had a match-high 29 kills. “This match could almost knock them out of it and put us in.”

Northridge, which plays front-running UCLA at the Wooden Center on Friday, had Santa Barbara reeling early with easy wins in the first two games. Then complacency seemed to set in.

“We weren’t nearly as focused as we were in the first two games,” said John Price, CSUN’s coach. “You could tell just by watching Mark (Root) and Neil. Early on they were down in their stance early and tuned in. In the third game they relaxed a little.”

But after dropping the third game, Northridge went ahead, 8-0, and cruised the rest of the way in the final game.

Northridge hit at a .496 clip against the Gauchos.