Marshall Sizes Up Van Nuys to Win Volleyball Final

Some say that size doesn’t matter. Not true in volleyball, as shown by Marshall High’s three-game sweep of Van Nuys in the City Section 3-A Division championship match Friday at Cal State Northridge.

Diminutive Van Nuys played poorly and fell to the defending champion Barristers, 15-6, 15-4, 15-8.

“We have four guys over 6-foot, and I don’t think they had anyone over 6-foot,” said Marshall’s Eli Brueggemann, who had a match-high 22 kills. “We pretty much dominated the middle.”

Middle blockers Jeff Grigsby (6-4) and Joe Manahan (6-5) combined for 20 kills and 10 blocks for Marshall (17-0).

Van Nuys (15-2) downplayed the height disadvantage but never got in sync.

“It seemed like everyone had an off-day,” Van Nuys’ Hubert Kim said. “It was terrible.”

Shane Karimoto led Van Nuys with 10 kills and Kim added nine. Setter Ricardo Hernandez had seven kills, 17 assists and two blocks.

“We never got fired up,” Van Nuys Coach Bob Berrenson said. “Our serving was horrible, our passing was way off and our setting was way off. What can I tell you? Sometimes that happens.”