April 15, 2008

MPSF TOURNAMENT QUARTERFINALS #6 Seed Stanford at #3 Seed Northridge • Saturday, April 19 • The Matadome • 7 p.m.

THIRD-SEEDED MATADORS OPEN MPSF QUARTERFINALS AGAINST STANFORD ON SATURDAY Postseason volleyball returns to The Matadome this Saturday, Apr. 19 as third-seeded Cal State Northridge (22-6, 17-5 MPSF) hosts sixth-seeded Stanford (17-10. 12-10 MPSF) at 7 p.m. The Matadors, ranked fourth by the AVCA this week, are hosting their first-ever MPSF quarterfinal match. Northridge has hosted the MPSF Play-In match twice in the last four years (2007, 2007), and looks to get out of the quarterfinal round for just the fourth time in 11 tournament appearances.

NORTHRIDGE ON THE NET Saturday's MPSF quarterfinal match will be broadcast live with Cory Bluemling, the voice of Matador men's volleyball, calling all the action. Click the newly-launched GoMatadors.com for more information. The Gametracker feature will also be available for Saturday's match.

TICKET TALK All fans will be charged admission for Saturday's MPSF quarterfinal match. However, the first 100 CSUN Students with I.D. that show up to the A.S. Ticket Office in the University Student Union starting THURSDAY, APRIL 17 at 10:00 a.m., will receive a FREE TICKET to the game. Additionally, the first 50 CSUN students with I.D. will receive a FREE Red Rally shirt. Shirts will be distributed starting at 6 p.m. in the lobby of The Matadome.

MATADORS DENIED A SHARE OF MPSF CROWN AFTER 3-0 LOSS TO NO. 4 LONG BEACH STATE Cody Loe knocked down a team-high 11 kills but third-ranked Cal State Northridge came up just short in its bid for a share of the 2008 MPSF regular season title as the Matadors fell to fourth-ranked Long Beach State 32-30, 30-27, 30-26 on Saturday in front of 1,481 at The Matadome. With the win, the 49ers improve to 23-5 overall and 18-4 in the MPSF which makes Long Beach State the top seed in the MPSF Tournament based on the tiebreaker with BYU. The Matadors, at 22-6 overall and 17-5 in conference play, fall one win short of sharing the conference title. 22 regular season wins for Northridge is a school record as the Matadors will open up the MPSF Tournament as the third seed and will host the sixth seeded Stanford Cardinal in a Quarterfinal match next Saturday, Apr. 19. On Saturday in front of the eighth-biggest crowd in Northridge volleyball history, the Matadors received 11 kills from Loe (.350) and 10 from Eric Vance. However, Vance, Northridge's leading hitter, was limited to a .143 hitting clip but did add one ace and five digs. Isaac Kneubuhl, who was honored prior to the match along with Travis Bluemling as part of senior night festivities, chipped in nine kills (.467) as did sophomore Kevin McKniff (.500). The Matadors, who hit .300 (44-17-90) for the match, tailed off in their hitting percentage in each game. Northridge hit .483 in game one, .290 in game two and .133 in game three. Long Beach out-aced the Matadors 8-2 and Northridge committed 17 service errors.

MATADORS WIND UP REGULAR SEASON RANKED FOURTH IN AVCA POLL After defeating UC San Diego and falling to No. 4 Long Beach State, the Matadors closed the regular season ranked fourth in the CBS College Sports Network/AVCA Top 15 Poll. Northridge (22-6), which ranked third last week, received 191 points from the pollsters this week. Penn State (26-1) remained the top ranked team for the fifth straight week after earning all 16 first-place votes and 240 total points. Long Beach State (23-5) jumped from fourth to second followed by BYU (23-4), the Matadors and Pepperdine (13-10). UCLA (17-13) and Stanford (17-10) share sixth this week while UC Irvine (15-14), Ohio State (18-7) and Ball State (19-9) complete this week's top 10. After three weeks at number two, the Matadors dropped two spots to fourth with 82 points in the most recent Molten/Volleyball poll.

MATADORS IN THE MPSF TOURNAMENT Northridge is making its seventh consecutive trip and 11th overall to the MPSF Tournament. This year's quarterfinal berth is Northridge's 10th in its MPSF history. The Matadors have been ousted in the quarterfinals eight times since 1993 but each of those matches were played on the road. Northridge is looking for its first trip to the conference semifinals since 2005 when the Matadors lost in four games at Pepperdine after upsetting No. 2 UCLA in the quarters at Pauley Pavilion. This year's number three seed is the highest for a Northridge team heading into the MPSF Tournament since 2004 when the Matadors were a five seed. Northridge is 3-6 in MPSF Tournament matches under head coach Jeff Campbell.

RECORD CROWDS IN THE MATADOME Saturday's match against Long Beach State drew a crowd of 1,481, which was the eighth-largest for a match in 31 years of Matador men's volleyball. It also marked the second time this season that Northridge drew at least 1,000 fans. The Matador-Pepperdine match on Mar. 12 had an announced crowd of 1,079. With the help of those two crowds, the Matadors posted their highest total attendance (7,669) since 1993 and their highest average attendance (639) since 1995. With 11 wins in 12 home matches, Northridge improved to 233-157 (.597) all-time at The Matadome.

MATADORS IN THE NCAA STATS Several Northridge players appear in this week's NCAA statistics report. Junior Eric Vance ranks sixth in aces (.510), eighth in points (5.30) and 10th in kills (4.46). Also figuring into the national stats, senior Travis Bluemling moves up to third in assists (12.99 per game), freshman Cody Loe (.438) and sophomore Kevin McKniff (.413) rank seventh and 14th respectively in hitting percentage, senior Isaac Kneubuhl is 20th in aces (.349) and sophomore Ali'i Keohohou is 14th in digs (2.41 per game). As a team, the Matadors remain the third-best hitting team in the country at .323.

NORTHRIDGE NOTES With 17 MPSF wins this season, the Matadors won four more conference matches than any other team in school history. With a win over Stanford on Saturday, Northridge can equal the 1993 squad for most wins (23) in one season ... A victory over Long Beach State on Saturday would have given Northridge the best home record in school history, but the Matadors will settle for second place. The 1991 team finished 13-1 at home on their way to a 22-7 overall record ... Saturday's 3-0 loss to Long Beach was the first time in three months that Northridge had been blanked in a match. The last time the Matadors were swept was Jan. 12 at Pepperdine ... After a 6-4 start, Northridge is 16-2 over its last 18 matches ... The Matadors wound up the regular season 16-6 against ranked teams and a perfect 6-0 against un-ranked teams ... Bluemling and McKniff are the only two Matadors to start all 28 matches this season ... Should Northridge reach the MPSF semifinals next week at Long Beach State, the Matadors would play the BYU-Play-In match (eight-seed USC vs. seven- seed UC Irvine) winner.

SCOUTING STANFORD The Cardinal (17-10, 12-10 MPSF) defeated No. 6 UCLA (3-1) and No. 7 UC Irvine (3-1) last week to earn the sixth seed in the MPSF Tournament. Stanford won eight of their last 12 matches to wrap up the regular season. Freshman OH Spencer McLachlin had 33 kills in two matches last week to lead the Cardinal. For the season, sophomore OPP Evan Romero leads Stanford in kills (418) and kills per game (4.49) which ranks sixth in the MPSF. Matt Ceran adds 3.43 kpg and McLachlin averages 3.41. Sophomore setter Kawika Shoji averages 10.41 assists per game and has served a team-high 27 aces. The Cardinal are hitting .258 as a team on 14.88 kills per game. Head coach John Kosty is in his second season at Stanford and sports a 20-45 career and school. Kosty posted a 17-win improvement in his second season.

SERIES STORY The Matadors and Cardinal have met three times this season with Northridge winning two of the three matches. Stanford won the season-opener for both teams in four games at UCSB's Elephant Bar Invitational on Jan. 4. The Matadors then bounced back to win at The Matadome in straight sets (Feb. 9) behind 15 kills from Eric Vance. Northridge won the series with a three-game win at Stanford on Feb. 9 as Cody Loe pounded a team-high 14 kills. The Matadors are 11-1 at home this season while the Cardinal are 6-6 on the road. Northridge has won six of the last 10 matches between the two teams in Northridge including a 3-1 win in The Matadome in the 2005 MPSF Tournament Play-In match.

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