Boys’ volleyball: Top two seeds play tonight for City championship

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

Sylmar and Granada Hills have been on a collision course all season long and tonight they finally meet to determine the City Section boys’ volleyball championship.

The first ball will be struck shortly after 5 p.m. at Roybal Learming Center in Los Angeles and there is little to choose from between two teams that have stood head and shoulders above the rest of the City. Neither has lost in match play to a City opponent this spring.

‘That should be a great match and I’d expect it to go five [games],’ Taft Coach Arman Mercado said after the Toreadors’ three-game loss to Sylmar in the semifinals Tuesday. ‘Granada [Hills] is more consistent and that works to their advantage the longer it goes.’

The top-seeded Spartans have not lost a game in the playoffs, sweeping Manual Arts, Hamilton, Verdugo Hills and Taft. No. 2-seeded Granada Hills has been almost as impressive, sweeping Monroe, Narbonne and Palisades before beating West Valley League rival El Camino Real in four games in the semifinals.

‘I think our blocking is going to be the key,’ Sylmar Coach Soheil Mashhoud said. ‘If we can exploit some matchups at the net we’ll be successful. We also need to serve better.’

All eyes will be on Sylmar’s 6-9 outside hitter Tyler Honeycutt, widely regarded as the best outside hitter in the City, but setter Felipe Garcia is the true catalyst of the Spartans’ offense. Coach Tom Harp must try to neutralize Honeycutt and create kill opportunities for the Highlanders’ one-two punch, seniors Jon Ben Haim and Ben Kim.

The team that makes better in-game adjustments will be the one raising the trophy by night’s end.

-- Steve Galluzzo