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Less than one year after finishing tied for last place in the MPSF, Cal State Northridge remains undefeated in the preseason.
Cal State Northridge swept UC Santa Barbara 25-20, 27-25, 25-15 in the opening day of the SAC Tournament on Friday in Los Angeles.
Outside attacker Julius Hofer had a team-high 19 kills in the victory as the Matadors improved to 7-0 in preseason play.
Cal State Northridge is the only team participating at the SAC
Tournament that did not reach the 2011 MPSF Tournament. In addition, USC, UC Santa Barbara and UCLA each finished in the top 10 of the national rankings last seaosn.
Along with Cal State Northridge, USC won its opening match of the two-team preseason tournament at SAC Gym on the UCLA campus. USC rallied from a 2-1 game deficit to defeat the host school UCLA 15-25, 25-18, 20-25, 25-18, 15-10.
Sophomore outside attacker Gonzalo Quiroga in the loss had a team-high 13 kills. Quiroga was named to All-MPSF Freshman Team last season and helped lead Argentina to a medal finish at the Youth World Championships this summer.
UCLA falls to 4-3 this preseason, while USC improves to 3-3.
Each of the four teams at the SAC Tournament will close out the preseason event Saturday with two matches.
UCLA SAC Tournament schedule
Friday’s results
USC def. UCLA 15-25, 25-18, 20-25, 25-18, 15-10
Cal State Northridge def. UC Santa Barbara 25-20, 27-25, 25-15
Saturday’s schedule
10 a.m. UC Santa Barbara vs. UCLA
10 a.m. USC vs. Cal State Northridge
3 p.m. Cal State Northridge vs. UCLA
3 p.m. USC vs. UC Santa Barbara
*All times PST