Volleyball upsets top-ranked Cal State Northridge
Nick Vogel celebrates during the Bruins’ five-set upset of Cal State Northridge on Friday. The sophomore quick hitter hit .458 and had seven block assists.
By Daily Bruin Staff
Feb. 22, 2010 12:09 a.m.
Cal State Northridge is the nation’s top-ranked team, and it certainly dominated UCLA on Friday night at Pauley Pavilion. For two sets at least.
The No. 1 Matadors (11-4, 8-4 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) took the first two sets for a commanding lead, but it was the No. 6 Bruins (9-6, 8-4) who took control and stormed back to win three straight sets and the match, 27-30, 28-30, 30-28, 30-14, 15-12. The win completed a season sweep of the Matadors for the Bruins, because they won 3-0 at the Matadome last month.
The Bruins got off to a sluggish start in their first game of an eight-match home stand after recently going 4-1 on the road. They hit a measly .133 clip in the first set followed by a .070 clip in the second.
“They snuck out a win in that second (set). … We were all pissed off so we came out, rallied together and won the next three,” redshirt sophomore opposite Jack Polales said.
In the third, however, the Bruins broke a 28-28 tie with a Polales kill and a CSUN hitting error. The fourth set was all Bruins all the time as they hit for a .643 clip, jumped out to an early 10-3 lead, and forced the Matadors to sit many of their starters to prepare for the crucial fifth set.
The Bruins took the final set behind the strong play of senior captain Garrett Muagututia and two crucial points gained by service specialists Chen Levitan and Kevin Ker.
“I brought in my two good servers off the bench, and they both got a point and that was the difference in the game. Without those two points, it would (have been) a deuce game,” coach Al Scates said.
Polales led the Bruins with 20 kills, and sophomore quick hitter Nick Vogel finished with 14. Sophomore quick hitter Thomas Amberg finished with a double-double, recording 10 kills and 10 block assists. The Bruins also got a boost from sophomore setter Kyle Caldwell and redshirt sophomore outside hitter Jeremy Casebeer, both of whom entered the match in the third set.
“When we put Kyle in, that gave us another 6’8″ blocker, and at that point, they really didn’t have a place to go,” Scates said.
The Bruins put on a blocking clinic, finishing with 19 total team blocks on the night, their highest mark of the season.
“The coaches had a great game plan for us, and we ended up stuffing a lot of balls,” Polales said.
Part of Scates’ game plan was to double-team CSUN’s spectacular quick hitter, Kevin McKniff, who entered the match leading the league in hitting percentage at .509. The Bruins held McKniff to just 14 attacks, though he converted on 13 of them for a .929 clip.
“We just went one-on-one on the outside because the middles were so hot,” Scates said. “We just dedicated two blockers to McKniff all night when he had a good pass so they had to go somewhere else.”
