3-A DIVISION

Monroe d. Sylmar, 17-15, 15-9, 15-3--The Vikings used a well-balanced hitting attack at Monroe to advance to the 3-A final for the first time since beating Verdugo Hills in 1990.

Reggie Ellis had 16 kills for the Vikings and Hugo Cabadas had 12. Raymund Golez had eight kills to help Monroe (13-3) win its 10th consecutive match and defeat Sylmar (11-5) for the second time this season.

The No. 1-seeded Vikings will play No. 2-seeded and defending champion Eagle Rock for the title at Northridge on Friday at 5:30 p.m.

Eagle Rock beat Poly in the other semifinal, 10-15, 16-14, 15-5, 15-5.

“Everybody on this team can hit,” Ellis said. “That’s been our strength all season, not just tonight. We’ve got eight or nine guys we can go to out there.”

Sylmar had to rely heavily on 6-foot-3 outside hitter Ervin Gonzalez.

Gonzalez had 20 kills but committed numerous hitting errors, as did his teammates.

“They executed a little better than we did,” Sylmar Coach Bob Thomson said. “Our guns just weren’t loaded tonight.”

Monroe scored five of its final seven points on Spartan hitting errors.

The Vikings clinched the match when Gonzalez hit long.

That came after Monroe scored its previous points on hitting errors by Mario Moran and Cesar Chavez, a block of Moran by Ellis and Jose Sanchez and a net violation on Sylmar.

“We didn’t hit well,” Thomson said. “But their defense probably had something to do with that.”

Monroe, led by 6-5 junior middle blocker Sanchez, did a particularly good job on Dedrick Washington.

The 6-3 Washington had 20 kills in Sylmar’s upset victory over Marshall on Thursday, but was held to six by Monroe.

“We wanted to face them so bad,” Ellis said of Sylmar. “They’re a good team, but I think we just had more people to go to.”