CITY CHAMPIONSHIP: A SWEEP FOR SYLMAR UNBEATEN SPARTANS CAPTURE CITY CROWN SYLMAR 3, CHATSWORTH 0.

Byline: Rich Hammond  Staff Writer

The dimly lit gymnasium at Occidental College will never again bring dark memories to Nancy Ariza and her Sylmar High girls' volleyball teammates.

Ariza, a senior outside hitter, played in her third City Section title match Friday night and finally got to leave Occidental as a champion.

The top-seeded Spartans avenged a loss in last year's final with a 15-9, 15-6, 15-9 victory over second-seeded Chatsworth.

The victory was particularly sweet for Ariza, and not only because of her past disappointments. Ariza's two older sisters, Mayra and Ingrid, both won City 3-A titles at Sylmar, in 1994 and 1996, respectively, but this is the school's first upper-division championships.

``Most of my sisters already had one, so I had to get one this year,'' Ariza said. ``I just had this feeling of confidence when I came in the gym. I didn't want to say anything, because I didn't want to get my hopes up, but I felt really good.''

The victory completed a magical 17-0 season for the Spartans, who were beaten by Palisades in four games in last year's final. Most of the key members from that team returned and the Spartans were not shy this year about aiming for a City title.

``I just remember seeing a lot of tears last year,'' Sylmar coach Bob Thomson said. ``This is what we all wanted. All season, we said it didn't matter who we played, it's how we played.

``I think you have to give a lot of credit to our seniors. Chatsworth has a lot of juniors, but they are still a great team.''

The teams met in a nonleague match in September, with Sylmar earning a three-straight-games victory in just 51 minutes, but nobody involved expected another blowout, for either team.

But even after two months, the Chancellors never really found a way to contain and counter the Spartans' powerful hitters, in particular middle blocker Stephanie Cisneros. It seemed as though every time Sylmar needed a big hit, Cisneros came through, either at the net or from behind the line, where her powerful left-handed jump serve gave the Spartans five aces.

``When I saw that Stephanie's jump serve was on, I had to feel pretty good at that point,'' Thomson said. ``I don't even think she missed one.''

Cisneros did not have a service error and for the most part, the Spartans played mistake free, even when they were pushed by the Chancellors.

Chatsworth started strongly and led for much of the first game, until Sylmar tightened up its defense. With her team trailing 9-7, Sylmar's Barbara Smiley served five consecutive points, and the Spartans would not drop another point in the game.

Sylmar dominated in the second game, as two aces by Cisneros helped give it an early 6-1 lead that was never seriously challenged.

The Spartans scored four of the first five points in the third game and looked as though they would cruise to the title, but the strong hitting of Linda Wang and Leila Pate kept the Chancellors alive for a while.

Chatsworth rallied to tie the game 8-8, but aces by Smiley and Krstal Mejia returned to momentum to the Spartans, who closed out the match by winning seven of the last eight points.

In the Invitational final:

--Carson 3, Kennedy 1: The Golden Cougars had a chance to send the match to a decisive fifth game, but the Colts scored 10 consecutive points to win the match and the school's first City title since 1988.

The second-seeded Golden Cougars scored the first three points of the fourth game and held a 10-5 lead, but couldn't hold it as the Colts battled back behind a strong serving attack led by Marilyn Mapuoletull andKhristine Maglaqul.

Kennedy, led by junior middle hitter Jevay Grooms, dropped the firstgame but scored 13 of the first 14 points in the second game to even the match.

The Golden Cougars battled back from a five-point deficit in the third game to take a 12-11 lead, but the Colts won on a service point by Stephanie David.

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Assistant coach Soheil Mashhound of Sylmar joins the Spartans' girls' volleyball teams celebrating.

(2) Chatsworth's Casey Dodd, left, prepares to return a shot Friday night in the City finale.

Eric Grigorian/Special to the Daily News