CSUN Playoff Hopes Dealt Severe Blow

The Cal State Northridge men’s volleyball team could only wonder.

About how the Matadors, the seventh-ranked team in the country, could be upset Saturday by 14th-ranked San Diego State.

About how the Western Intercollegiate Volleyball Assn. loss, 16-18, 15-9, 10-15, 12-15, could have happened at home, where the Matadors had not lost since Feb. 24.

And about what’s going to happen to it now, as far as the playoffs are concerned.

CSUN (14-14 overall, 6-9 in the WIVA) needed to win to stay in contention for a Western regional playoff berth.

Now sixth-place CSUN, 1 1/2 games behind Pepperdine, will be in must-win situations in each of its three remaining WIVA matches to have even an outside chance of earning a Western regional playoff berth. The top five teams in the conference qualify.

“We’ll just have to see what happens,” said CSUN’s Andrew Greskovics, who had a team-high 25 kills.

“They came out ready to play right from the start and we didn’t. We expected to win this match and we took them too lightly, I guess.”

CSUN came back from an 8-6 deficit in the first game to forge a 14-14 tie with Greskovics serving, but the rally fell short when San Diego State’s Joe Anselmo served the winning point.

Although CSUN rebounded to win the second game behind the play of middle blocker Jeff Campbell, who accounted for seven points in the set, the Matadors trailed throughout most of the final two games and could never quite catch the Aztecs (13-15, 3-11).

“We played poorly and still had a chance to win tonight,” CSUN Coach John Price said.

“But we didn’t. You could see out there, we were real tense. It was like we were afraid to lose.”