Sylmar’s Title a Small Wonder

For the Sylmar High girls’ volleyball team, the key was to make sure the ball went directly from setter Sandra Smiley to pint-sized outside hitters Patty Mendoza and Ingrid Ariza.

The strategy worked wonders in the City Section 3-A Division final Saturday at Occidental College.

Mendoza had 12 kills and Ariza added 11 to lead the Spartans to a 15-4, 15-3, 15-11 victory over Canoga Park.

Despite their size, the 5-foot-3 Mendoza and 5-2 Ariza stood the tallest after top-seeded Sylmar (17-0) won its second City title in three years. Second-seeded Canoga Park, playing its last match under veteran Coach Joey Nakasone, finished 13-4 after its first appearance in a final.

Mendoza and Ariza sparked the Spartans’ offense and defense, coming up with 19 and eight digs, respectively. Ariza had five aces.

“This was a good one,” Mendoza said. “It feels good when you’re up in the air and you know you’re going to hit it over the block.”

Mendoza and Ariza did that a lot as the Spartans set almost exclusively to the outside.

“I don’t think size matters at all,” Ariza said. “As long as you’ve got the willpower to do it, you can do whatever you want.”

Plagued by poor passing, Canoga Park was unable to do much until the third game, when the Hunters held their only leads of the match.

There was little that Nakasone could do, except take his hat off to the Spartans.

“You gotta give all the credit to them because they just beat us,” said Nakasone, who ended a 15-year career at Canoga Park after taking a counseling position at Kennedy High in October.