Taft Throws Scare Into Chatsworth Before Succumbing

In the five years that Doug Magorien has been coaching volleyball at Taft High, his teams have seldom won a game against rival Chatsworth. The Toreadors have never won a match against the Chancellors.

So after Taft won two games against Chatsworth in a Northwest Valley Conference opener Wednesday, Magorien had reason to smile. Still, it was not enough as Chatsworth, the defending City Section 4-A Division champion, recorded an impressive come-from-behind victory at Taft, 6-15, 15-8, 18-16, 7-15, 15-5.

“It must be that Chatsworth mystique or something,” Magorien said. “Our kids are so used to losing to them that it’s difficult to change their attitudes. I thought we had a good chance to win today. If we hadn’t fallen apart as a team in the end, I think we would have won.”

Taft (3-1), which lost to Chatsworth in the City semifinals last season, started quickly Wednesday. With senior Matt Davis, a 6-foot-4 middle blocker, controlling the net, the Toreadors stormed to an easy win in the first game.

But Chatsworth (5-2), which lost its starting lineup and coach after winning its sixth consecutive City title last year, regrouped with a convincing win in the second game. Then, trailing, 14-7, in the third, the Chancellors mounted a spectacular comeback and won, 18-16.

“Believe me, I was very worried in that third game,” said Chatsworth Coach Steve West, who replaced 16-year Coach Steve Berk this season. “I didn’t think we had much of a chance of winning when we were trailing, 14-7.

“The difference was that our kids have a lot of heart and played like a team until the end. This team has more heart than I’ve ever seen before.”

But Taft, behind a front line of Davis, Cody Hein and Adam Friedman, rallied to win the fourth game.

In the end, however, the individual efforts were overshadowed by Chatsworth’s more patient attack. With setter Brian Labovitch and blockers Craig Hewitt and Gene Urcan working well together, the Chancellors scored the last 10 points of the match, with Greg Saltzberg serving the final six.

“We’re accustomed to winning the first game, so we really had to buckle down after we lost it today,” said Hewitt, a 6-6 senior. “We just had a total team effort.”