USC
Cal State Northridge
USC Men's Volleyball Falls To CS Northridge
April 03, 2009 | Men's Volleyball
April 3, 2009
The No. 3 Cal State Northridge men's volleyball team, behind 26 kills from Eric Vance, defeated No. 4 USC, 30-27, 30-28, 29-31, 30-21, in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match on Friday (April 3) in Northridge.
CSUN upped its overall record to 21-5 and its MPSF mark to 14-5. In falling to the Matadors for the 14th consecutive time, USC fell to 16-7 overall and 12-6 in the MPSF.
CSUN hit .315 and served 10 aces, while the Trojans hit just .268.
Murphy Troy led USC with 25 kills and he also had 6 digs, while Tony Ciarelli added 20 kills (hitting .359) and 8 digs. Tri Bourne had 10 digs and 8 kills, Luke Morris had 11 digs and Riley McKibbin had 5 blocks.
Vance, who hit .431, also had 7 digs and 3 aces, while Mike Gaudino had 13 kills, 8 digs and 4 blocks and Jason Ratajczak had 10 kills while hitting .421.
A 3-point run gave CSUN a 20-17 edge in the first set and USC couldn't catch up. In the second set, the Matadors overcame a 27-26 deficit by scoring 3 in a row before closing out that set. The third set was tight throughout until a kill by Ciarelli and a Matador hitting error ended it. CSUN built a quick 8-3 lead in the fourth set and was never threatened.
USC stays on the road for its next match, going to top-ranked UC Irvine on Wednesday (April 8) for a 7 p.m. MPSF contest.
