Boys’ volleyball: Highlanders sweep into City quarterfinals

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

Even after watching his team ambush Palisades in the first game of Thursday’s City Section quarterfinal match, Granada Hills Coach Tom Harp had an uneasy feeling. He remembered how the Highlanders won the first game handily in last year’s semifinals, too, only to lose the next three.

‘The first thing that entered my mind was this is deja vu,’ Harp said. ‘It was the same team, same scenario. Fortunately, we were able to maintain the momentum this time.’

Second-seeded Granada Hills learned its lesson from last year’s defeat and never let Palisades into the match, sweeping the defending champions, 25-12, 25-22, 25-19, to move one step closer to a possible finals showdown against top-seeded Sylmar.

‘There were definitely some pre-game jitters and all but when you win the first game decisively like we did it fires everyone up, it gets the home crowd involved and it boosts your confidence,’ Highlanders senior outside hitter Jonathan Ben Haim said. ‘They’re a very good team. Honestly, I never felt like we had it won until the very last point.’

Two of the Dolphins’ best players, seniors Matt Hanley and Jordan Cohen, sat out with injuries, leaving much of the scoring burden on the arm of junior outside hitter Kene Izuchukwu, who led both teams in kills.

‘It’s tough to lose like this because we had such high hopes this season,’ Izuchukwu said. ‘This one match doesn’t show what our team can really do. We tried our best tonight but it just wasn’t good enough.’

-- Steve Galluzzo