VALLEY / VENTURA COUNTY SPORTS : Fundamentals Serve Chatsworth : Volleyball: Sticking to the basics enables Chancellors to sweep Sylmar in nonleague match of ranked City Section teams.

Call it no frills with plenty of thrills, namely winning.

Chatsworth High defeated Sylmar, 15-12, 15-11, 15-4, in a nonleague girls’ volleyball match that came down to fundamentals.

Boring, maybe. Crucial, definitely. But fundamentals all the same.

The Chancellors, ranked No. 9 in the region by The Times, don’t shut down opponents at the net--they had zero blocks Thursday at Sylmar.

They don’t have an outside hitter with a blazing arm swing and don’t serve bullets.

They pass, however, like few teams do. Ball control is the goal. Receive the serve properly, get the ball to the setter and go from there. And don’t let anything hit the ground.

“It’s the best defense we’ve played in years,” Chatsworth Coach Bud Dow said. “We’ve focused real hard on controlling the ball and it’s paid off.”

Shannon De Vos was the team’s best passer, digging up several offers pounded over the net by Sylmar opposite hitter Stephanie Cisneros.

“We knew where to be,” De Vos said.

Chatsworth (2-0) is surprisingly young to be playing as steady as it is.

The Chancellors’ best attacker was middle blocker Linda Wang, a 6-foot sophomore who delivered 10 kills. Junior outside hitter Leila Pate had six kills and sophomore setter Carlie Allison was nearly flawless.

Wang, who is still perfecting her fundamentals, was especially impressive in the second game, helping Chatsworth erase an 11-9 deficit. She had three late kills, including the game-winner that capped a 6-0 run.

“She’s learning how to control a middle hitter on the other team” Dow said. “She is being asked to play at a much higher level than she did last year on junior varsity.

“It’s new to her.”

It didn’t help Sylmar that its best player, Kassy Jimenez, was wearing overalls and a T-shirt, sitting in the bleachers behind the bench.

Jimenez, a two-time All-City middle blocker, suffered a possible season-ending knee injury Tuesday against Poly. She will see an orthopedic specialist Monday.

The Spartans (2-1), ranked No. 6 in the region, could have used her.

Cisneros finished with nine kills, but the rest of the attack was lacking. The Spartans fell apart in the third game and had 10 hitting errors, with only two kills. Nancy Ariza and Krystal Mejia each had five kills for Sylmar.

“There’s not much to say,” said Jimenez, a senior. “There’s not much I can do off the court.

“They’re going to have to want it now. For me and for themselves.”

It’s back to square one for Coach Bob Thomson, who would have had one of the best teams in his 14-year tenure with Jimenez.

“It’s going to take us a while,” Thomson said. “You can’t take an All-City player out of your lineup and expect to play better the next day.

“It’s going to take a good couple of weeks before we get back in rhythm.”

Chatsworth, it appears, is already there.