High School Volleyball Playoffs : Chatsworth Advances to City Final

Chatsworth High earned its sixth consecutive berth in the City Section 4-A Division volleyball final with a 15-4, 15-5, 15-12 win over Taft in a semifinal match Tuesday at Chatsworth.

The Chancellors (16-0) will meet Palisades, a 15-10, 15-9, 15-13 winner over Westchester in the other semifinal, Friday at UCLA’s John Wooden Center at 7 p.m.

Chatsworth won City titles in 1981 and 1984.

Greg Weaver, who finished with a match-high 17 kills, and Jeremy Graham, who added eight, powered Chatsworth to easy victories in the first two games.

“I was jumping higher tonight and the angle from the outside was excellent,” said Weaver, the chief beneficiary of the 29 assists logged by setter Jamie Chen.

“All I can say for Palisades is: ‘We’re ready.’ ”

Taft (13-3), however, launched a rally in the third game behind senior Dave Saranow, who had seven of his team-high nine kills in the final game.

“Saranow was our offense tonight,” Taft Coach Doug Magorian said. “He hit hard and smart.”

Taft built a 10-6 lead before Chatsworth’s defense, which had 22 blocks, responded to the challenge.

“Taft is a good team as they showed in game three,” Chatsworth Coach Steve Berk said. “But our front-line blocking was on tonight and our offense was clicking.”

Magorian said that his team never got untracked.

“We didn’t put much pressure on them until game three and you can’t do that with Chatsworth,” he said. “They are an awesome team.”