Gledhill Goes Out a Winner in Taft Sweep

Indeed, it all weighed down on Mike Gledhill.

The position switch at the start of the season. The important college decision. The constant prodding from his friends, who demanded he lead Taft High to a successful defense of the City Section boys’ volleyball championship.

Everything that pressed down upon Gledhill . . . gone after Friday night.

Gledhill had 19 kills and Taft defeated Venice, 15-6, 15-9, 15-12, to win the City Championship at Cal State Northridge.

Gledhill, a 6-foot-6 left-hander, moved from opposite hitter to middle blocker before the season, with the same result for the Toreadors--a City title.

“It’s my senior year, my last memory of Taft,” said Gledhill, who recently committed to Pepperdine. “The best memory it could be.”

Bryan Capper added 13 kills for top-seeded Taft (17-0), which won its 31st consecutive match and its third championship in school history.

Gledhill warmed up after a slow first game (three kills) and delivered 10 in the second game.

“He was big,” said Coach Doug Magorien of Taft. “His all-around game is so strong.”

Magorien fired up his team before last year’s championship match by showing a tape of the 1990 title match won by the Toreadors. He used no such tactics this time.

“I didn’t need to,” Magorien said. “They knew how to win from last year.”

The Toreadors did have concerns this week.

They practiced Wednesday and Thursday without starting outside hitters Massod Noorzay and Capper. Noorzay was bothered by tendinitis in his knees; Capper injured his hand Tuesday in a semifinal victory over Grant.

“It was hard to scrimmage when you don’t really have your two regular passers,” Magorien said.

Both played against Venice, Capper finishing with 13 kills and Noorzay with three. Noorzay left the match early in the third game with cramps in his left leg, but returned.

With the exception of a 2-0 lead in the second game, third-seeded Venice (16-1) showed little spark until late in the third game. The Gondoliers overturned a 10-6 lead by scoring the next six points.

But Taft staged a rally of its own, tying the match, 12-12, on a kill by Capper and ultimately winning on a block by Gledhill.

“I was hoping we’d get enough points to earn some respect,” said Venice Coach Allen Hunt, who received 16 kills from Kyle Morrison and nine from David Magallanes.

But not too much respect on Gledhill’s night.

INVITATIONAL

North Hollywood def. Sylmar, 15-5, 15-6, 15-10--Abner Aguilar had 23 kills and Kenny Hauser added 14 and the Huskies won their first volleyball title.

Hauser helped bottle up the Spartans with six blocks.

“You can’t complain about that,” Hauser said.

Hauser, Eric Roller and Julio Molina played on the North Hollywood basketball team, which lost to Manual Arts in the City Invitational final a few months ago.

“They were hungry because they didn’t win,” said second-year Coach Ceil Miller of North Hollywood (12-5). “Did I walk into something great or what?”

Mario Aguilar had nine kills for sixth-seeded Sylmar (9-8).