Chatsworth Cuts Down Kennedy in Three Straight

In between the second and third games of Wednesday night’s Chatsworth-Kennedy volleyball match, Kennedy Coach Mike Stanton joked about acquiring an ax.

An ax would have allowed Stanton to chop down some very tall trees in the Chatsworth lineup.

But Stanton could find no cutting tool and was forced to watch his team get cut up in three games, 15-6, 15-8 and 15-13 on Kennedy’s home court.

Chatsworth, the defending City champs, used its tremendous height advantage to move into undisputed first place in the West Valley League with a 4-0 record. The Chancellors are 8-0 overall.

Kennedy, 3-1 in league play and 8-2 overall, did not start anyone taller than 6-1 Trinidad Cardenas, while Chatsworth has three players standing 6-4, one 6-3 and two 6-2.

The Chancellors repeatedly smashed spikes over the top of the Golden Cougars’ block.

When Chatsworth wasn’t ramming the ball through the Kennedy block, it was blocking Kennedy’s hitting attempts.

“Their size really hurt us in the middle and on the outside,” Stanton said. “We didn’t block tonight.”

Chatsworth’s Rob Hansen, 6-2 senior hitter, knew that if the Chancellors blocked, “the game would be in the bag.” Hansen brought the Chancellors back from a 13-11 deficit in the final game with two vicious spikes that knotted the score.

Hansen finished with a team-high 13 kills, none of which were more important than the last two, according to Stanton.

“If we had won that third game,” Stanton said, “we definitely would have given them a match. I think it would have gone to five games.”

But it didn’t, much to the relief of Chatsworth Coach Steve Berke.

“Winning three in a row has been pretty hard for us,” he said. “We always seem to fall apart in one game.”

The Chancellors had a chance to crumble in the third game, after blowing a 9-6 and coming within two points of a fourth game.

“Our team has been together since the off-season,” Hansen said, explaining Chatsworth’s last-game rally. “We know each other so well that we can talk to each other, use constructive criticism.”

Stanton had difficulty finding something to critique of the Chancellors’ play.

“I’d say they are as good as any team in the City, if not the best,” he said.

Chatsworth and Kennedy will both play in the Palisades Tournament, which starts Saturday. The Chancellors enter as the top-seeded team.

Chatsworth lost in the semifinals of last year’s tournament, then went on to win the City championship behind Jeff Campbell, the City Player of the Year, who is now at UCLA.

Most everyone agrees this year’s Chatsworth team is as good as last year’s, if not better.

“We have more depth,” said Neil Coffman, who finished with nine kills. “Last year, we had one big man (the 6-7 Campbell). Now we can go to anybody.”