USC
Cs-Northridge
Men's Volleyball Falls To CSUN, 3-1
April 07, 2002 | Men's Volleyball
April 6, 2002
The 2002 Matador men's volleyball squad did something no other Northridge team has done in school history on Saturday (April 6), and that's sweeping the season series with USC. Northridge pulled off the feat with a 3-1 (30-25, 26-30, 30-27, 30-25) victory in The Matadome in front of 512 fans.
With the win, Northridge improves to 13-13 and 8-12 in the MPSF, while the Trojans lost their school-record 10th consecutive match to drop to 5-21 and 2-18 in the MPSF.
Eckhard Walter led the Matadors with 21 kills and six blocks (three solo). Middle blocker Stan Douglas was the only other Matador to reach double figures in kills with 12 (hit .474 for the match, 12K, 3E, 19TA).
Northridge setter Ty Tramblie had a game-high 54 assists with five digs and the Matadors' only two service aces.
Matador libero Doug English had a stellar night doing most of the passing for the Matadors and ended the contest without a reception error and with a match-high 20 digs.
The Matadors hit .000 (11K, 11E, 32TA) in an ugly first game but it was good enough for a 30-25 win as USC hit -.030 (11K, 12E, 33TA).
The Trojans responded to win the second game 30-26 on the strength of their .469 hitting percentage (18K, 3E, 32TA).
After the break, the Matadors claimed the third game 30-27 after trailing 22-16. The Matadors hit just .114 in the third game (16K, 12E, 35TA), but held USC to just eight kills in that same stretch (hit .038, 8K, 7E, 26TA).
The Matadors closed out the match with a 30-25 victory in the fourth game. Northridge hit .250 in the final game (17K, 8E, 36TA) while the Trojans hit .118 (13K, 9E, 34TA).
Brook Billings led USC with 13 kills, nine total blocks and five digs. Beau Rawi was the only other Trojan to reach double figure kills with 11 on the evening. USC setter J.T. Gilmour had 43 assists, a team-high nine digs and three blocks.
For the match, USC led Northridge in total blocks (17.0-10.0), but the Matadors led the Trojans in digs (34-26). Northridge held a slight 2-1 lead in service aces. The Matadors also outhit USC .175 (65K, 40E, 143TA) to .152 (50K, 31E, 125TA).
USC closes out its 2002 season with MPSF matches against Stanford on Friday (April 12) and Pacific on Saturday (April 13). Both matches are at 7 p.m. in the USC North Gym.
