Northridge redeem themselves by defeating the Tritons
After the loss the team experienced playing against the number eight ranking UC Irvine, Northridge was able to redeem themselves in their next match. By defeating the UC San Diego men’s volleyball team, Northridge extending its winning streak against the Tritons to the 38th time. Unfortunately for San Diego, the Northridge team has set a record for making it the longest winning streak against any team up till this time.
The skill of the Matadors stand out in all areas of the game but specifically in making the least amount of errors while playing. Greg Faulkner, the freshman for the Matadors, expresses his feelings about his team’s performance in the following words: “I feel great about us moving forward. I do believe tonight was a better night for us as we cut back on our errors and that affected the other team.”
However, there are some weak areas that the Northridge team needs to focus on if they plan to excel as one of the top teams of the nation. During the match against UC Irvine on Friday and their recent win on Saturday against the Tritons, the Matadors were not able to register a commendable hitting percentage. Against UC Irvine, the hitting percentage of the Northridge team was .200 while they post an embarrassingly low percentage of .171 when playing against the Tritons. The highest that the Matadors have in their last eight matches is .253. These statistics clearly reflect the fact that the Matadors need to improve their attacking skills considerably.
Despite this, Faulkner seems to be positive about the way his team is going.
“We are confident we can get more wins in the conference. The energy in the locker room is a lot more positive,” Faulkner said. “We are a lot more focused than we were a few weeks ago. If we keep playing tough like we did against UCSD, we will be ready for playoffs.”
With defeating the Tritons at the RIMAC Arena in a match that went on till four sets, the Matadors have improved their wins to three. These victories have been achieved at the expense of seven losses.
Prominent amongst the Northridge team players are the names of Faulkner and Brandon Lebrock, also a freshman Matador. Faulkner kept the score board ticking by posting 11 kills in the entire match. He also contributed by adding six blocks. Team-mate Lebrock also helped by registering the same number of kills as Faulkner. Lebrock was also able to make his highest number of digs this season at the figure of eight.
As for now, the Matadors are heading home to get ready for three tough matches in line for them. The Northridge team is up next to play against USC, Pepperdine and UCLA. Let’s see how they fare against the fellow Southern California schools.
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