Title Caps Sylmar’s Perfect Season

All season, the Sylmar High girls’ volleyball team played with one goal in mind: getting back to the City Section Championship final and winning.

The Spartans got their chance Friday night, and this time they made the most of their opportunity by sweeping Chatsworth, 15-9, 15-5, 15-9, at Occidental College--the same venue they lost to Palisades in last year’s final.

Sylmar became just the second Valley team to win the upper-division title since the sport was sanctioned in 1973. The other was Chatsworth in 1994.

The top-seeded Spartans also completed a 17-0 season in which they won 51 straight games in match play.

Sylmar opposite hitter Stephanie Cisneros had a match-high 21 kills and Nancy Ariza added eight kills and 12 digs. Setter Barbara Smiley finished with 29 assists.

Middle blocker Linda Wang led the second-seeded Chancellors (15-2) with 11 kills, four blocks and 10 digs.

If any team in the City had a chance of upsetting Sylmar, it was Chatsworth, which had defeated the Spartans in the semifinals of the Chatsworth tournament in September. The tournament game did not count on Sylmar’s season record.

But Sylmar embarrassed Chatsworth, 15-1, 15-6, 15-1, in a nonleague match less than a week later.

Friday’s meeting was more of the same.

A Cisneros kill tied game one, 9-9, then the Spartans went on a 6-0 run. Krystal Mejia ended the game with back-to-back aces.

Cisneros had five jump-serve aces in the second game, including three in a row to give the Spartans a 14-5 lead.

Fittingly, Sally Teague closed out the match with back-to-back aces. Sylmar finished with 15 aces, five each by Cisneros and Mejia.

Carlie Allison had 19 assists and Casey Dodd had 10 digs for Chatsworth.

Sylmar won City 3-A (lower division) titles in 1994 and 1996.

Carson def. Kennedy, 15-11, 4-15, 15-13, 15-10--Jevay Grooms had 18 kills, Brie Eckle had seven kills and Nancy Phan added seven kills and four aces for the second-seeded Golden Cougars in the Invitational championship.

Setter Jeannette Hernandez had 19 assists for Kennedy (10-7), which did not lose a game en route to the finals.

The Golden Cougars led, 12-6, in game three, but the 12th-seeded Colts (9-5) went on a 9-1 run to close out the game.