Santa Barbara Upsets CSUN in Volleyball

How would Cal State Northridge fare without middle hitter Ken Lynch?

That was the question facing the Matadors before Wednesday’s volleyball match against UC Santa Barbara. After a first-game victory without Lynch, who ranks fourth in the nation in kill average, the Matadors appeared to be making do.

At that juncture, however, seventh-ranked Santa Barbara regrouped and dealt a serious blow to the third-ranked Matadors’ division championship hopes, rallying to upset host Northridge in four games before 927 fans.

The scores were 7-15, 17-15, 15-11, 15-13.

Santa Barbara’s win snapped a seven-match winning streak for Northridge, which lost Lynch to a left-ankle sprain suffered in a win Monday over Hawaii. The loss also ended a 14-match home winning streak dating to last season.

Northridge (15-7 overall, 9-3 in the Western Intercollegiate Volleyball Assn.’s DeGroot Division) entered the match with a one-game lead over fourth-ranked Pepperdine with five matches to play. Pepperdine will visit Northridge on Friday.

Santa Barbara improved to 10-10 overall and 6-5 in the DeGroot Division.

“When you win the first game and are up, 11-2, in the second, if you just keep the pressure on, the other team is done,” Northridge Coach John Price said. “We’ve got to learn how to concentrate--that’s been our problem all year. Tonight, we didn’t get away with it.”

With substitutes Kory Hull and Jeff Zevely sparking the comeback, Santa Barbara scored 12 consecutive points in game two and eventually won the marathon 50-minute game on the 11th game point when Todd Ahmadi drove a poor set down the middle for a kill.

Game three was tied, 10-10, before the Gauchos reeled off five of the next six points, winning when Jason Mount drove another poor set back at the Matadors for a kill.

The fourth game was also close, but Santa Barbara won the match on the fifth match point when Ahmadi stuffed Axel Hagar’s kill attempt.

Northridge got a career-high 42 kills from Coley Kyman and 25 kills from Hagar.

Matt Unger, the Matadors’ all-time leader in assists, went over the 3,000 mark with 83. The junior setter has 3,045 assists in his Northridge career.