4 Emerge as Finalists for Post at Northridge : Women’s volleyball: Michigan’s Kanim and Arizona’s Rubio, former Matador assistants, among candidates to replace Ker.

Cal State Northridge has narrowed a field of more than 40 applicants to four in its search for a women’s volleyball coach.

The finalists are Mora Kanim of Michigan, David Rubio of Arizona, Denise Corlett of Stanford and Kelley Sliva of USC, Ron Kopita, Northridge’s vice president of student affairs, said Thursday.

Corlett, Kanim and Sliva are top assistants. Rubio has been Arizona’s coach for one season after a five-year stint at Cal State Bakersfield.

The Northridge job was vacated Jan. 6 when Walt Ker resigned shortly after guiding the Matadors to a 27-8 record and their first berth in the NCAA Division I tournament.

Ker, who was 401-144 and led Northridge to postseason play in all 14 seasons he coached, cited family considerations as the reason for his resignation. In a subsequent investigation, The Times learned that a university committee had received written complaints of sexual harassment against Ker from two members of Northridge’s 1992 team.

Both Kanim and Rubio have ties to Northridge.

Kanim, 27, was Northridge’s top assistant in 1990 and ‘91, when she also served as recruiting coordinator. Rubio, 33, played for Ker at Granada Hills High and also at Northridge in 1981 and ’82. He was an assistant to Ker for the Matador men’s team in 1983 and was a women’s assistant to Ker in 1985. He also was an usher at Ker’s 1984 wedding to a former Northridge player.

Before joining Ker’s staff, Kanim was coach for three seasons at Marymount High and for one season at University High. A UCLA graduate, she played three seasons for the Bruins, including 1984 when UCLA finished 33-6 and won the NCAA championship.

Rubio was 10-17 in his first season with Arizona. The Wildcats won four Pacific 10 Conference matches, which marked a dramatic improvement from the previous season when Arizona finished 4-26 and was winless in conference play.

At Cal State Bakersfield, Rubio had a record of 120-65 and his team won an NCAA Division II title in 1989, the same year his team knocked Ker-coached Northridge out of the playoffs in a regional championship match.

Corlett helped guide Stanford to the NCAA title last season. She has been the Cardinal’s top assistant since 1989. Before that, she spent two seasons as an assistant at San Jose State and two years as an assistant at her alma mater, UCLA.

In the late 1970s, Corlett was a three-sport star for the Bruins. She was a three-time All-American in volleyball, a member of a national championship basketball team and the 1977 Broderick Award winner as the nation’s top collegiate badminton player. She was a member of the U.S. national volleyball team in 1982 and ’83.

Sliva has been the top assistant to Coach Lisa Love the past five seasons--the last four at USC, and one season before that at Texas Arlington. Sliva’s coaching experience includes three seasons as an assistant at Arizona, for which she played from 1980-82.

Kopita said he expects to announce a choice by the middle of next week.