Boys’ volleyball: Pumas play big to defend Small Schools title

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

It was anything but a cake walk, but Northridge Academy has won the City Section’s Small Schools Division championship for the second year in a row. And the best part for Coach Azy Badiei is that she doesn’t have to board a bus or hop in her car to return the winner’s trophy to its rightful place.

As a matter of fact, her journey can be measured in steps.

Northridge Academy’s campus is about 200 yards from the Matadome at Cal State Northridge, where the top-seeded Pumas outlasted Foshay, 25-22, 19-25, 24-26, 25-18, 15-12, in Saturday afternoon’s final. Northridge Academy (16-2) took a 10-5 lead in the last game only to watch third-seeded Foshay (15-2) creep to within 11-10 before the Pumas pulled away.

Alex Prince had 26 kills and Vikram Thabur had 10 for Northridge Academy, which beat Elizabeth Learning Center in last year’s inaugural Small Schools final.

-- Steve Galluzzo