CSUN to Meet Long Beach in Rematch

Just seven days after losing to top-ranked Cal State Long Beach in a dramatic five-game match, Cal State Northridge will meet the defending NCAA champion 49ers in the Western Intercollegiate Volleyball Assn. semifinals tonight at 7:30 at UC Irvine’s Bren Center.

In what CSUN Coach John Price and All-American middle blocker Coley Kyman call the match that helped pull the Matadors out of a late-season slump, Northridge took Long Beach to five games in the UCLA Classic on April 10 before falling, 16-14, 12-15, 15-12, 10-15, 13-15.

During the WIVA season, Northridge (18-11) and the 49ers (27-3) split two matches.

The Matadors advanced to the semifinals with a 3-0 win over UC Santa Barbara on Wednesday.

“We are playing with much more heart right now,” Price said. “It is hard to play with that much emotion--it takes a lot out of you--but we need to be that way.”

Kyman is confident of the Matadors’ chances against Long Beach.

“We’re really focused on what we need to do,” he said. “We’ve worked very hard to get out of that slump.”

Mitch Voges of Simi Valley, fresh off his first appearance in the Masters, shot a four-over-par 75 in Thursday’s first round of the Heritage Classic on Hilton Head Island, S.C., eight strokes off the pace set by Davis Love III.

Voges, 42, played each side of the par-71, 6,912-yard Harbour Town Golf Links in two over par.

Many of the nation’s top-ranked bicycle racers are scheduled to compete in the 65-mile Peter Jensen Memorial road race in Camarillo on Saturday. Racers will start and finish on Mission Oaks Boulevard, adjacent to Mission Oaks Plaza shopping center. Preliminary races will begin at 8 a.m., followed by the pro-am main event at 1 p.m.

Area riders scheduled to participate include Thurlow Rogers of Van Nuys and John Wordin of West Hills.