Matadors Shake Off UC Irvine : College volleyball: No. 4 Northridge struggles before putting away last-place Anteaters.

It was senior night, after all, and there stood Coley Kyman, suffering alone.

Last-place UC Irvine was hammering away at fourth-ranked Cal State Northridge and there was little Kyman, surrounded by a group of reserves, could do about it.

Then the reinforcements arrived.

First, Axel Hager, a senior outside hitter, checked in. Then senior Ken Lynch returned to the lineup. And, suddenly, Irvine started to look like Irvine again.

Trailing, 13-5, in the third game, Northridge stormed back to complete a sweep, 15-13, 15-4, 15-13, of the Anteaters (2-19) Wednesday night in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match before 719 at Matador Gym.

The victory secured a spot for Northridge in the eight-team MPSF Tournament beginning Wednesday at UC Irvine. The Matadors (18-9, 12-6 in the Mountain Division of the MPSF), could be seeded as high as fourth if they defeat host UC Santa Barbara on Friday in the final match of the regular season.

But pride, not the playoffs, dominated Kyman’s thoughts as he brooded about Irvine’s lead during the third game.

“To me it definitely was a pride thing,” Kyman said. “At one point, I looked around and I was the only guy out there who was a senior. I didn’t want to lose it. Not in my last home game.”

Kyman completed 60% of his hitting attempts and had 16 kills to lead Northridge in that category for the fourth consecutive match.

The All-American middle blocker added five digs and four blocks--two of them solo efforts. Kyman has 100 solo blocks in his career, tying Dave Shaffer, who played for Northridge from 1982-85.

“Coley is the one guy who is always ready no matter who we’re playing,” Northridge Coach John Price said. “It doesn’t matter how big we are favored or what, if anything, the match means.

“(Irvine was) 1-17 (in MPSF matches),” Price said. “You hope they come out sharp and fired up, but it doesn’t always happen. . . . So we juggled things. I was trying to find someone who wanted to play Irvine.”

At the end, he found the right combination.