Granada Hills Wins Match but Sees Red

The Granada Hills High boys’ volleyball team nearly rode a wave of emotion right out of the 4-A City section playoffs.

But the Highlanders recovered from two red cards in the first two games and some sloppy play early to avenge their only loss of the season with a 17-15, 11-15, 15-11, 15-12 victory over Venice Thursday in a quarterfinal match.

Granada Hills advanced to a semifinal match Tuesday against Palisades, which defeated Westchester, 6-15, 16-14, 15-5, 18-16.

After his team rebounded from an 8-3 deficit in the first game and with the score tied, 13-13, Granada Hills Coach Tom Hart was given a red card for questioning an official’s call. The Highlanders (14-1) recovered from the point penalty to win the game but still couldn’t seem to stay focused.

Venice (10-5) jumped out to an early lead in the second game and was in the midst of a 6-0 run when Hart was given his second red card and another point penalty.

The Gondoliers led by as much as 12-3 before the Highlanders rallied to make the second-game score respectable.

“I think we were a little shook up because of the officiating but we just had to overcome it,” Hart said.

Led by senior Mike DiSimone and junior Earnest Yum, Granada Hills regrouped and controlled the final two games.

DiSimone finished with a game-high 26 kills and Yum added 14, including six in the final game.

“We had revenge on our mind and we might have played too hard early,” DiSimone said. “We had a slow start but I thought we would come back and we did. In the last two games, we stayed steady and just made less mistakes.”

DiSimone was expected to shoulder the burden of leading the Highlanders but Yum was the player making critical kills late in the match.

“I was just trying to focus on the ball and it was looking big,” Yum said. “I’m real happy because it was one of my best games.”

Venice was led by outside hitters Greg Lennon, who had 24 kills, and Ryan Fukuda, who added 22.

After Fukuda hit his kill attempt into the net on the third match point, Granada Hills could turn its attention to the semifinals, although somewhat reluctantly.

“I don’t want to think ahead to next Friday or even Tuesday,” DiSimone said. “This was a big game for us.”