City Volleyball : Palisades Wins Title, Goes to Prom

On prom night, Palisades High School had reason to dance.

With a cheering section dressed in tuxedos and evening gowns, the Dolphins defeated Chatsworth, 15-10, 15-13, 15-4, Friday night at Pepperdine’s Firestone Fieldhouse to win the City 4-A boys’ volleyball championship.

However, the match was closer than expected.

“We were more interested in the prom . . . “ said senior Kent Steffes, who had 11 spikes to go with 12 by Chris Pennell and 11 by J.B. Saunders. “We were lucky to play as well as we did.

“They (Chatsworth) played incredibly well. One of their top players, Jeff Campbell, had a broken leg (actually torn ligaments in the left ankle), and as soon as I got here and heard that, I said we’re going to win 15-0 in three straight.”

You might say Palisades is now all dressed up with no place to go. Unlike girls’ volleyball competition, there are no State playoffs for the boys, so Palisades has concluded its season with a 34-0-1 record. Palisades lost only 2 of 85 games.

Granada Hills also concluded an undefeated season earlier Friday by defeating Northern League champion Belmont, 15-9, 15-12, 15-8, for the first-ever 3-A title.

The Highlanders, who lost only three games en route to a 17-0 record, won the match with strong play in the middle by 6-5 Derek Hanson and 6-2 John Lim. Belmont finished 12-3.