Granada Hills Has the Mix to Master Palisades for Title

EAGLE ROCK —  No math wizards or rocket scientists were needed to figure out the formula for the Granada Hills High boys’ volleyball team.

Using the same concepts--good defense, good passing, good serving, good blocking--that brought them this far, the Highlanders went one step further Friday night.

They won their first City Section 4-A Division title by defeating Palisades, 15-9, 15-7, 14-16, 15-8, at Occidental College.

Balance was also the key for the top-seeded Highlanders (17-0), who received 16 kills from Shawn Litchfield, 15 from Paul DiSimone and 13 kills from Chris Tran.

“In all my years of coaching, this was one of the best wins I’ve ever had,” said Granada Hills Coach Tom Harp, whose Highlanders lost three times in the 4-A final in the 1990s. “I felt a little bit more pressure because I knew we had a good shot at it.”

It was too much for the second-seeded Dolphins (14-2), who guaranteed themselves a successful season in Wednesday’s semifinals by sweeping chief rival and three-time defending 4-A champion University.

Palisades could not top that on Friday.

Granada Hills was nearly flawless in the beginning.

In game one, Tran, Litchfield, DiSimone and Achi Yaffe combined for 17 kills and only three errors.

In game two, Tran had three kills and two aces as the Highlanders ran out to an 11-2 lead.

The Dolphins recovered in the third game, despite nearly losing a 14-11 lead. Granada Hills fought off six game points, tied it, 14-14, but Palisades won the final two points.

Reserve middle blocker Levi Paul was the star in the fourth game. He had only one kill in the first three games, but came up with six kills and one block as Granada Hills erased a 4-1 Palisades lead with nine consecutive points.

Aaron Goldstein also came through with five of his 11 kills in game four.

“After losing [the 4-A championship] last year, we couldn’t let it happen again,” DiSimone said.

Kirk Friedman had 26 kills for the Dolphins.

The Highlanders, who lost last year’s 4-A final in four games, capped a season in which they won the Northwest Valley Conference title and were seeded No. 1 in the playoffs for the first time.

Said an exhausted Harp: “Was that ever going to end?”