Final Volleyball Tests Await Van Nuys and Granada Hills

This year’s City Section volleyball championships have a decidedly local flavor. Call it Valleyball.

The two matches will be played tonight at Cal State Northridge, and each will feature an area team.

Van Nuys will take on Marshall at 5:30 p.m. in the 3-A Division championship, and Granada Hills will play University in the 4-A final at 8.

Granada Hills (15-1) has made it a habit of beating traditional coastal powers, taking out Venice and defending champion Palisades in its last two matches.

Powerful outside hitter Mike DiSimone, a 6-foot-5 senior headed to San Diego State, is Granada Hills’ top player but by no means its only one.

Earnest Yun, Mark Muir and Dan Elbert have been consistent contributors, and setter Victor Chang has done an excellent job in his first season as a starter.

But Granada Hills Coach Tom Harp said beating University (13-0) could be his team’s toughest task.

“We didn’t play our best match (against Palisades in the semifinal), but we still won,” Harp said. “But that’s not going to do it (tonight).”

Harp said his team’s ability to serve well and keep University off balance will be the key if the Highlanders are to win their first 4-A title.

Granada Hills won 3-A championships in 1986 and 1987 but lost the 4-A title match in 1991.

Van Nuys was the 3-A runner-up in 1991, and the Wolves will be going for their first City volleyball title against Marshall (16-0).

All four of Van Nuys’ hitters--Hubert Kim, Bryan Oey, Shane Karimoto and Pilmin Park--are less than six feet tall. But their solid play and the setting of Michael Suh and Ricardo Hernandez has been responsible for a 15-1 record.