USC
Cal State Northridge
Cal State Northridge Men's Volleyball Beats USC
February 24, 2010 | Men's Volleyball
Feb. 24, 2010
John Baker had 15 kills and 12 digs to lead the No. 5-ranked Cal State Northridge men's volleyball team to its 16th consecutive victory over USC, this time beating the No. 6 Trojans, 30-25, 24-30, 30-22, 30-21, in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match on Wednesday (Feb. 24) at USC's Galen Center.
CSUN improved to 12-4 overall and 9-4 in the MPSF. USC, which has lost 5 of its last 7 matches after spending the first month of the season ranked No. 1, fell to 8-6 overall and 6-5 in the MPSF. The Matadors took over the No. 1 ranking from USC for the past 3 weeks, but then lost 3 of 5 matches and dropped from the top spot this week.
Baker, who hit .480, was among 4 Matadors in double kill figures. He was joined by Theo Edwards (13 kills, 8 digs), Kevin McKniff (12 kills on .429 hitting, 5 blocks) and Jacek Ratajczak (12 kills on .391 hitting, 6 blocks). Ali'i Keohohou added 19 digs, Mike Gaudino had 5 blocks and Matt Stork had 8 digs with 53 assists.
For USC, Murphy Troy had 25 kills and 7 digs, Tony Ciarelli added 20 kills and 7 digs, Andrew Pizula had 19 digs, Riley McKibbin had 11 digs, 4 blocks and 49 assists, Maddison McKibbin had 7 digs and 4 blocks and Hunter Current had 5 blocks.
USC hit a season-low .156 and had 10 less digs than CSUN (66 to 56).
The first set see-sawed until 3 straight USC errors (a blocking error followed by a pair of hitting errors) allowed CSUN to gain a 25-22 lead that held up despite 4 blocks and 3 aces in the set by the Trojans. USC scored 4 consecutive points to go up 20-17 in the second set and the Matadors couldn't catch up as the Trojans hit .350 to CSUN's .105. CSUN went on a 4-0 run in the third set to build a 13-8 margin and didn't allow USC to catch up while hitting .314 and posing 5.5 blocks. In the fourth set, CSUN scored 3 unanswered points to open a 7-3 lead and steadily pulled away while hitting .343 and serving 3 aces.
USC is off until hosting No. 9 UC Santa Barbara on March 5 in an MPSF match at 7 p.m. in the Galen Center.
