BOYS' VOLLEYBALL: BIG ISN'T BEST.

Byline: Lee Barnathan Staff Writer

Village Christian High of Sun Valley's Bill Schnobrich typifies the frustration boys' volleyball coaches have regarding the new five-division alignment. Schnobrich's team sits in Division IV, as does Division I champion Corona Del Mar of Newport Beach and Division III champion Santa Ynez.

Village Christian, with its 550-student enrollment, is the division's smallest school, yet the Crusaders might have to face the likes of Harvard-Westlake of Studio City (enrollment: 1,100) in the playoffs.

``Division IV is really odd,'' Schnobrich said. ``We asked how CIF could let this happen.''

The Southern Section's response: We didn't. You did.

At a Southern Section Council meeting last spring, 73 league representatives approved increasing the boys' volleyball divisions from three to five and banned schools from ``opting up,'' that is, compete in Division I regardless of enrollment.

The result: Some of the strongest volleyball programs aren't in Division I. Mira Costa of Manhattan Beach, Royal of Simi Valley and Loyola of Los Angeles are in Division II. Newport Harbor and Santa Margarita are in III. Corona Del Mar and Santa Ynez can't defend their section titles.

``I want to be in Division I,'' Royal coach Bob Ferguson said. ``We worked as hard as we could to play in Division I. The best teams should be in Division I. They screwed it up pretty bad.''

Southern Section assistant commissioner Karen Hellyer said the coaches had a chance to come to a council meeting and voice their displeasure, but no one did.

Hellyer has heard from various volleyball coaches, mostly in Orange County and the South Bay. To them, and to those who haven't complained to her but want relief, Hellyer says to go to the league representatives and have them bring it to the council's attention.

``It's in place until someone wants it changed,'' Hellyer said.

--Valley power: Don't look now, but the Valley has surpassed the Westside as the City Section's center of power.

In three of the last four years, a West Valley League team has won the City: Granada Hills in 1997 and Taft of Woodland Hills in 1999-2000. Although Palisades won in 1998, it beat Taft.

This year, the top City teams are Taft and Chatsworth, but several area coaches think those two plus Grant of Van Nuys, Granada Hills and Monroe of North Hills could occupy the five of the top six seeds come playoff time. Although Grant plays in the weak Sunset 6 League, it beat Taft. Granada Hills has won games from Chatsworth and Taft. Monroe, which advanced to the City final in 1999, likely will go undefeated in the Valley Mission League.

Reasons for the shift abound. The Valley schools are getting more players who play club than before, and top-notch players who used to attend Palisades and University of Los Angeles now opt for private schools.

As for Palisades and University, which have combined to win 17 City titles since 1974, Chatsworth already beat Palisades this season, and University, while having a good year, ``isn't up to some of our championship years,'' athletic director Ray Blum said.

--Several coaches: El Camino Real of Woodland Hills is an example of a school where too many coaches don't spoil the game.

Actually, the Conquistadores have one coach, Aimee Sturges. But players such as juniors Matt Petros, Aaron Cowan, Nick Erin, Rambee Wong and Joey Bunetto love playing so much, they act like coaches, especially in practice.

``They spend so much time thinking about how to win,'' Sturges said. ``They come up to me and say, `Coach, can we work more on defense or coverages?' They're very eager.''

So far, so good. Although the Conquistadores are 3-4, that's two more wins than they had last season.

--Tournament time: One of the better out-of-area tournaments starts Monday in Las Vegas. Sixty teams compete over two days, but only the ones who lead their pools after the first day qualify for the tournament championship.

Participating teams including Taft, Village Christian, Canyon, Valencia, Saugus, Lancaster and Highland of Palmdale. Canyon, Highland and Village Christian are in one pool.

DAILY NEWS TOP 10

No. Team Record

1. Royal 15-2

2. Village Christian13-0

3. Highland 6-1

4. Canyon 7-1

5. Grant 8-0

6. Taft 8-1

7. Valencia 6-2

8. Chatsworth 7-2

9. Harvard-Westlake 6-4

10. Moorpark 6-4

CAPTION(S):

photo, box

Photo:

Skyler Chambers, left, and Brian Waite are among the key players for the fourth-ranked Canyon boys' volleyball team. Canyon is one of several area teams that will play in a Las Vegas tournament starting Monday.

Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer

Box: DAILY NEWS TOP 10 (see text)