Last week, Cal State Northridge knocked off its first No. 1 team. This week, the eighth-ranked Matador volleyball team is looking to double its fun against top-ranked Hawaii. UH back on
Wahine to host regional
top of rankingsBy Grace Wen
gwen@starbulletin.comHawaii and Northridge battle tomorrow and Friday at 7 p.m. at the Stan Sheriff Center. The Warriors moved up to the top spot in the AVCA coaches poll yesterday. Hawaii (8-2 4-2 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) garnered eight first-place votes and flip-flopped with No. 2 UC Irvine after the Anteaters got beat by the Matadors last Friday.
The return to No. 1 doesn't mean much to Hawaii coach Mike Wilton.
"Nothing," Wilton said. "Any one of eight or nine teams could be there right now.
"We're ranked No. 1 in the nation and fourth in the conference. Maybe the conference thing is more valid than what the coaches think. Who knows."
The reality in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation is parity. Third-ranked Pepperdine and No. 4 BYU top the MPSF standings, but both have losses to the next group of conference contenders. UCI, Hawaii, Pacific and Northridge are within a game of each other.
The Matadors (8-4, 4-3) have quietly crawled their way back to competitive status in the MPSF after a turbulent summer in 1997.
Men's volleyball, along with baseball, men's soccer and men's swimming, were dropped to achieve compliance with gender equity and to balance the athletic department's budget.
The program was reinstated four months later, but the damage was already done. Then coach John Price left the Matadors to coach women's volleyball. Assistant coach Jeff Campbell scrambled to reassemble the team and was the interim coach before being named the head coach in April of 1998.
Before the elimination of its program, Northridge had not missed the playoffs in six years. It took four years for Campbell to work Northridge back into playoff contention. The Matadors made a quiet appearance last year before bowing out against Pepperdine in the first round.
Northridge is better this season despite losing All-American Eckhard Walter, who finished his eligibility. The Matadors are more experienced as they start four juniors, two seniors and a sophomore.
Reigning AVCA Player of the Week Joe Nargi averages 5.02 kills a game. The 6-foot-7 opposite is playing his third different position in as many years. Nargi moved from middle blocker to right side this season to replace Walter. Nargi collected 45 kills in victories over Irvine and UCLA.
"I've got to believe they're going to be as high as can be after a great week," Wilton said. "Everybody's improved in this league. I hear (Northridge) is a real nice ball-control team."
The Warriors had a successful road trip, going 3-1 against UCI and Long Beach State, but they're not happy with the way they've been playing.
Besides last Friday's sweep, Hawaii has allowed most teams to creep back into matches.
"Our league is really tough. Everybody can beat anybody on a given night," outside hitter Costas Theocharidis said. "I was surprised (by Northridge's win). You don't know what to expect. I didn't expect us to be up 2-0 against Stanford and lose the game.
"I worry about every game but I'm not worrying about Northridge. We were in a slump for a couple of weeks, but I think we got out of it. It started against Shanghai. We played really crappy against Stanford. And the week after we played crappy against Irvine.
"Then against Long Beach, we started playing more as a team. We got more in the team spirit. We passed well."
UH Athletics
