Boys’ volleyball: City coaches say Chatsworth is team to beat

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

It’s normal for coaches to ‘talk up’ their own teams, but everyone I’ve asked so far agrees that Chatsworth is the team to beat in the City Section.

‘Definitely Chatsworth,’ Palisades Coach Chris Forrest told me last week.

‘Chatsworth,’ Van Nuys Coach David Chae chimed in Monday.

On Wednesday, El Camino Real Coach David Coleman echoed his peers’ sentiments that Chatsworth is indeed the preseason favorite to win the title. After all, the Chancellors boast 13 seniors, including 6-foot-7 Dusan Marovic, 6-3 Thomas Franco, 6-2 Cavanaugh Thompson and 6-2 Andy Ouano.

‘They’re big and they’re loaded,’ Coleman said of Chatsworth, which meets the Conquistadores in their West Valley League opener next Wednesday. ‘We tied for third with them last year so that goes to show how tough this league is.’

I’ll say. West Valley League teams have won the last eight City titles and Coleman believes that trend will continue.

‘Granada Hills won City the last two years, we should be pretty good and of course you can never count out Taft,’ Coleman said. ‘Even Birmingham and Cleveland are much improved, so there are no pushovers.’

Van Nuys reached the City semifinals last season and Chae isn’t crowning the Chancellors champions yet.

‘There are teams that can challenge them,’ he said. ‘You’ve got Van Nuys and Verdugo Hills in the Sunset Six, Venice and Palisades over the hill, Sylmar in the Valley Mission and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Taft there at the end.’

-- Steve Galluzzo

-- Image from www.chatsworthhs.org