Locals help team win CIF volleyball title...

Locals help team win CIF volleyball title

If Village Christian had to endure 54 years of disappointing near

misses and heartbreaking runner-up finishes just to cherish its first

CIF Southern Section championship that much more, then the Crusader

boys’ volleyball team made it well worth the wait Saturday.

Assisted by Burbank resident John Mark Wendler , third-seeded

Village Christian handled top-seeded Brentwood, posting a 15-10,

15-6, 15-9 victory at Cypress College to win the Division IV crown,

the first in school history in any sport.

After dropping Olympic League matches to the Eagles (17-2) by

scores of 15-9, 15-13, 15-12, on April 11 and 13-15, 16-14, 15-6, 15-12, on April 30, Village Christian (26-8) rode the momentum from

Wednesday’s thrilling five-game victory against No. 2 seed Corona

Santiago to play perhaps its best match of the season at the time

when it counted most.

“Some of the plays they made [Saturday], they haven’t made all

year,” said seventh-year Coach Bill Schnobrich, whose squad ended

Brentwood’s 10-match winning streak and its bid at consecutive CIF

titles, after the Eagles won the Division V crown last season.

“We’re playing so much better now than we did at any other point

of the season and it was just a matter of us playing like this at the

right time.”

Jordan Coon tallied 11 kills and 14 blocks, Wendler had four kills

and 12 blocks, Andy Levoe amassed 32 assists and six blocks, and

Nathaniel Taylor recorded seven blocks for the Crusaders.

The team also included resident Daniel Greenhaw.

Lean year for league championships

The 2002-03 high school year was one of the leanest in recent

memory in terms of teams capturing league titles.

In fact, between the four local schools -- Burbank, Burroughs,

Bellarmine-Jefferson and Providence -- only one team won a

championship in 20 sports. And that team -- Burbank boys’ tennis --

shared the crown with another school, Valencia.

Although there were a handful of teams which finished second, only

the Bulldogs were able to secure a share of a title.

The best runner-up was the Bell-Jeff girls’ basketball team, which

advanced to the CIF Southern Section Division IVA championship game.

The Guards finished behind L.A. Marlborough -- which went on to win a

Division IV title -- in the Sunshine League.

Cirillo bringing up his batting average

Former Providence High baseball player Jeff Cirillo began the

season in a hitting slump.

However, the Seattle Mariners’ third baseman is hitting again and

bringing up his batting average.

After hitting below .100 the first three weeks of the season,

Cirillo has a .241 average in 44 games.

Compiled by Jeff Tully and Erik Boal