CSUN NOTEBOOK: CAMPBELL REBUILDING.Byline: Chris Branam Daily News Staff Writer Cal State Northridge head men's volleyball coach Jeff Campbell Jeff Campbell (Born August 25, 1979) is a New Zealand soccer player who has represented his country at U20, U23 and senior levels. The attacking midfielder made his debut for the All Whites against Jamaica in January 2000 and collected 13 caps (5 goals). was doing everything he could to make this meeting happen. ``I have a doctor's appointment at two,'' Campbell told the person on the other end of the phone call. ``But I really want you to come over. You call me when you are available.'' Then Campbell hung up the phone looking like he had just landed one of the nation's top recruits. ``He's going to do the tile for my kitchen,'' Campbell said to a visitor. ``I've been playing phone tag with him for a while.'' Campbell is slowly rebuilding his Chatsworth home, which he bought a few years ago when it was in pretty bad condition. He's working just as hard on remaking CSUN CSUN California State University Northridge into a men's volleyball power. The Matadors set many significant records this past season, but they weren't the right kind. CSUN had its worst season in the program's 23-year history, with just three wins in 24 matches. Before beating UC Santa Barbara Santa Barbara (săn'tə bär`brə, –bərə), city (1990 pop. 85,571), seat of Santa Barbara co., S Calif., on the Pacific Ocean; inc. 1850. in the season finale, the Matadors had lost 13 consecutive matches. CSUN, which was 2-17 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation is a college athletic conference whose member teams are located in the western United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I. , has had two-consecutive sub-.500 seasons since the university's decision to cut volleyball in 1997. This was a program that played in the NCAA-title game in 1993, losing to UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX . By the time the sport was reinstated, former head coach John Price had left to take over at Cal State Bakersfield and starters Dan Fisher, Sean Callahan, Josh Sanders and Mike Szymanski had all transferred to other schools. Campbell, who was an assistant under Price, was elevated to interim head coach after men's volleyball was brought back in August 1997. But by then the roster was depleted de·plete tr.v. de·plet·ed, de·plet·ing, de·pletes To decrease the fullness of; use up or empty out. [Latin d . In '98, CSUN rallied with junior college transfers to go 10-14. In '99, the Matadors had just three players who had played at least one year at the Division I level. You know what happened. ``Our experience level was so low,'' Campbell said. ``There were a lot of senior-oriented teams (in the MPSF MPSF Mountain Pacific Sports Federation ).'' The Matadors return all their starters, and the 33-year-old Campbell, who is in the second year of a three-year contract, said the worst is over. ``We're going to be good for a really long time,'' he said. Last chance: Campbell made a classy move in the Matadors' win over UCSB UCSB University of California at Santa Barbara UCSB University of Casual Sex and Beer - he gave significant playing time to senior outside hitter Mark Lee, who was playing in his last match. Lee, who played at Hart High and transferred from Pierce College In 2006 the Library won a national Excellence award. Academics Pierce College offers associate's degrees, mainly in the arts and sciences. There are also certificate programs in early childhood education, social services, dental hygienist, and others. when the program was revived and needed players, had his best match of the season. ``We appreciate all these guys who came here at the last minute,'' Campbell said. ``We owe them a lot.'' Tara to the rescue: Tara Glaister became the first pitcher in the history of CSUN softball to strike out 200 or more batters in three seasons early in Saturday's 16-inning 5-3 victory over Cal State Fullerton More important than Glaister's second-inning strikeout of Dara Marzolo was her adjustment against the Titans' Stephanie Little. Little, one of the nation's leaders in homers, hit her 18th and 19th of the season in her first two at-bats against Glaister. But Glaister went to off-speed pitches later in the game against Little and struck her out in the top of the 16th. Glaister, a senior right-hander from Claremont, is 15-11 and leads the Big West Conference with 207 strikeouts. The other brother: It's hard to miss Michael Ranier; he's 6-foot-6 and weighs 215 pounds. But Ranier, a freshman left-hander at CSUN, didn't gain much notice as a senior at Royal High in 1997. Part of the reason was his twin brother Matt was a prospect who is now at Nevada. Michael went to Cuesta College Located on the famed California Highway 1 (Pacific Coast Highway), the Cuesta campus is six miles from the beaches of the Pacific Ocean and six miles from San Luis Obispo (SLO). in San Luis Obispo San Luis Obispo (săn l  `ĭs ōbĭs`pō), city (1990 pop. 41,958), seat of San Luis Obispo co., S Calif., near San Luis Obispo Bay; inc. 1856. for a year before
coming to Northridge. He made 10 appearances before last week's
surprise start against Cal State Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. , when he threw seven
scoreless innings.
Ranier says an appearance like that is a good audition for next year, when top recruits Kameron Loe (Granada Hills) and Ivan Hernandez (Sylmar) are expected to make an impact on the rotation. ``I'm proving it to (the coaches) and especially myself,'' he said. ``I haven't had the opportunity to prove it to myself.'' |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion