VOLLEYBALL PLAYOFF ROUNDUP

North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake def. Bishop Montgomery, 15-12, 15-7, 9-15, 15-13--The Wolverines survived a late Bishop Montgomery rally at Cypress College to win their fourth Southern Section championship in six years.

Junior middle blocker Courtney Schultz led Harvard-Westlake (22-2) with 25 kills and six digs. The match bore no resemblance to an October nonleague match that the Wolverines won easily, 15-5, 15-4, 15-2.

“[Bishop Montgomery was] scrappy,” Harvard-Westlake Coach Jess Quiroz said. “But Courtney was just great. She is always great.”

After Harvard-Westlake lost the third game and with their team trailing, 5-2, in the fourth, Schultz and junior Karalyn Kuchenbecker traded kills for the Wolverines and shifted the momentum of the match. Kuchenbecker finished with 22 kills and six digs.

“We lost our confidence at the end and had to fight to get it back,” Schultz said.

UCLA-bound Chrissie Zartman led the Knights (18-12) with 22 kills and 24 digs.

CITY SECTION

Sylmar won its first City championship by sweeping Chatsworth, 15-9, 15-5, 15-9, at Occidental College.

Sylmar, which lost to Palisades in the championship match last year, became only the second San Fernando Valley-area school to win the upper-division title since the sport was sanctioned in 1973. Chatsworth won in 1994.

Sylmar won City 3-A titles in 1994 and 1996 before moving up to the Championship division.

Top-seeded Sylmar (17-0) also completed a perfect season in which they won 51 consecutive games in match play.

Opposite hitter Stephanie Cisneros had a match-high 21 kills, and Nancy Ariza added eight kills and 12 digs for Sylmar.

Setter Barbara Smiley had 29 assists.

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

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

Carson d. Granada Hills Kennedy, 15-11, 4-15, 15-13, 15-10--Nila Morris had 10 kills and Michelle Guerrero added eight kills and 17 digs for Carson (9-5), which overcame a 12-6 deficit in the pivotal third game to win the Invitational division title at Occidental College.

Marilyn Mapuoletull added seven kills and 18 digs for Carson.