The Roof Comes Down on Chatsworth in Final

The Chatsworth Roofing Co., otherwise known as the Chatsworth High boys’ volleyball team, was put out of business Friday night.

Reason: leaky roofs.

The defending City champions were outhustled, outsmarted, outplayed and outscored by a much smaller University team, 15-11, 15-7, 15-10, in the City championship match before a vocal crowd of about 1,500 at Pepperdine University.

University’s upset victory ended a 32-match winning streak for Chatsworth, which was 17-0 this season. The Chancellors had not lost a match since dropping a five-game decision to University 14 months ago.

The Chatsworth team dubbed themselves the Chatsworth Roofing Co., a roof being a volleyball colloquialism for a block.

But on this night their roofs were full of holes.

The Chancellors served long, sprayed errant passes all over Firestone Fieldhouse, made several other unforced errors and had more than a few University-brand roofs built in their faces by a scrappy Warrior team that spotted them about four inches per man.

Mostly, though, University dug down deep to put back up a majority of the balls Chatsworth tried to put down.

“We played a percentage game,” said University Coach Neal Newman, who lives in Woodland Hills. “We gave them the lines and took away the middle of the court.”

Chatsworth may be tall, but the Chancellors look as if they would do well to spend a little time in the weight room. Most of their jerseys hang on them.

Newman had said before the match that his team, which lost a four-game nonleague match to Chatsworth two months ago at Chatsworth, had the advantage in quickness and stamina.

“I think they can be beaten and I think we can beat them,” he said Thursday. In three previous playoff matches, Chatsworth had not lost a single game.

But University (13-3), with four junior starters and no starter taller than 6-0 Erik Ferris, didn’t back down against a Chancellor team whose starting lineup averaged 6-3.

Chatsworth jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first game, but University quickly tied the game as 6-5 David Michalski, who will play for UCLA next season, was roofed twice.

University opened a 9-6 advantage and led most of the way after that.

The first game ended when 5-11 Gary Gellman spiked a ball off the Chatsworth block and out of bounds. The second ended when Gellman spiked a ball through the Chatsworth block.

The Warriors were coming after the champs.

“All of our guys can touch 10 feet, even the midgets,” Newman said, “and they don’t get as tired as the bigger (Chatsworth) players.”

Chatsworth Coach Steve Berk, who was seeking his third title in five years, said his team “didn’t play up to its capabilities, but I think Uni just played excellently.”

As for his team’s numerous errors, Berk said: “I think nerves played a part in it. That’s our game (to attack), but we missed more than we normally do. I think that was because we were caught up in the excitement.”

Chatsworth played without 6-4 junior setter Rob Campbell, who was declared academically ineligible last month after failing a geometry class.