CITY SECTION CHAMPIONSHIP: WALTZ OF THE TOREADORS TAFT SWEEPS VENICE TO REPEAT AS CITY BOYS' VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONS TAFT 3, VENICE 0.Byline: Chris Cocoles Staff Writer Seventeen matches. Sixteen sweeps. One L.A. City Section boys' volleyball volleyball, outdoor or indoor ball and net game played on a level court. An upright net, 3 ft (or 1 m) high, the top of which stands 8 ft (2.43 m) from the ground for men, 7 ft 4 1/8 in (2. championship for Taft High of Woodland Hills. The top-seeded Toreadors wrapped up back-to-back City titles with a 15-6, 15-9, 15-12 win over No. 3 Venice at Cal State Northridge Friday night. Taft won the 1999 title as a second seed, avenging a regular-season loss to Monroe by beating the Vikings in the finals. But from the first day of volleyball practice this season, the Toreadors were the overwhelming choice to repeat. Only semifinal victim Grant managed to win one game among all of Taft's(17-0) City Section matches en route to its third championship in school history. Taft also won in 1990. ``At the beginning of last season we were just hoping to contend . . . It was more of a shock,'' junior outside hitter Bryan Capper cap·per n. 1. One that caps or makes caps. 2. Informal Something that surpasses or completes what has gone before; a finishing touch or finale. 3. said. ``This year, all the way we were coming to defend it. We did it, and it's wonderful.'' Venice (16-1) seemed overmatched by Taft but was scrappy scrap·py 1 adj. scrap·pi·er, scrap·pi·est Composed of scraps; fragmentary: scrappy evidence. scrap in the second and third games. Taft rallied from a 12-10 deficit to sweep its finals opponent for the second consecutive year. The Gondoliers fought off one match point, but Mike Gledhill, the City's dominant player the past two years, finished off Venice with a block. Gledhill, who should earn City Player of the Year honors after sharing the award as a junior, will play at Pepperdine next season. The 6-foot-6 middle blocker had his usual moments of brilliance, finishing with 18 kills and five blocks. ``It's my senior year, my last memories of Taft. And it's the best memories they can be,'' Gledhill said. Taft is more than just Gledhill. Juniors Capper (10 kills), Masood Noorzay and Inshik Shin shin (shin) the prominent anterior edge of the tibia or the leg. saber shin marked anterior convexity of the tibia, seen in congenital syphilis and in yaws. are efficient hitters. Senior Andrew Reback, who had 41 assists, is a solid setter setter: see sporting dog. setter Any of three breeds derived from a medieval hunting dog that would set (lie down) when it found birds so that it and the birds could be covered with a net. Setters have long hair on the ears, chest, legs, and tail. . Venice couldn't find the right combination to slow Gledhill. He was at his best in game two, when he recorded nine of his kills. ``Their outside hitters weren't anything I hadn't seen. (Gledhill) gave us the biggest trouble being left-handed,'' Gondoliers coach Allen Hunt said. ``We've never seen a left-handed middle and we weren't able to control him.'' After a quick first game, Taft stumbled briefly in game two. The Toreadors failed on four game points until Noorzay, who suffered leg cramps in the third game, had a kill to end the game. In the City Invitational in·vi·ta·tion·al adj. Restricted to invited participants: an invitational golf tournament. n. An event, especially a sports tournament, restricted to invited participants. Adj. 1. finals: --North Hollywood d. Sylmar: Kenny Hauser, Eric Roller and Julio Molina had already lost once in a City Invitational title game. But the trio made up for the Huskies' basketball defeat to Manual Arts with a convincing 15-5, 15-6, 15-10 sweep of the Spartans for the school's first volleyball title. ``Our basketball coach (Rob Bloom Rob Bloom is an American comedy writer and screenwriter. He has written for the Cartoon Network, McSweeney's, CRACKED, Fresh Yarn, Funny Times, National Public Radio, American Public Media, among others. ) was talking to Noun 1. talking to - a lengthy rebuke; "a good lecture was my father's idea of discipline"; "the teacher gave him a talking to" lecture, speech rebuke, reprehension, reprimand, reproof, reproval - an act or expression of criticism and censure; "he had to us. He told us `You guys lost last time, you better win this time,' '' said Hauser, a junior outside hitter who had six blocks and 14 kills. Eric Roller, a senior middle blocker who captained the basketball team, was particularly focused on getting a championship after losing on the basketball court. ``Anytime I wanted a kill . . . I could look over at Eric and he'd be like, `I know.' He's really cool. He shows no emotion out there,'' North Hollywood coach Ceil Miller said. ``I'm very happy for the basketball players.'' Hauser finished with six kills and six blocks, but North Hollywood's (12-5) attack was keyed by senior Abner Aguilar, who finished with 23 kills. Setter Sung Kim recorded 35 assists. ``When we're a little down, Abner always picks us up,'' Miller said. Mario Aguilar had nine kills, Chris Pelayo six and nine digs for the Spartans, who finished 9-8 but made an impressive playoff play·off also play-off n. Sports 1. A final game or series of games played to break a tie. 2. A series of games played to determine a championship. Noun 1. run. No. 6 Sylmar beat third-seeded Marshall and second seed Fairfax before falling to the Huskies. ``I'm proud of these kids. We played very well in both (the Marshall and Fairfax matches) to get here,'' Sylmar coach Bob Thomson Robert 'Bob' Thomson was an English footballer who played during the early 20th century, mainly prior to World War I. Playing as a forward, Thomson carved out a career in the game despite having only one eye, resulting from a childhood accident with a firework. said. ``Unfortunately this was not one of our best efforts.'' CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Taft's Bryan Capper defends at the net against Venice's Kyle <noinclude></noinclude> ''This article or section is being rewritten at One derivation of the surname is from the Scottish Highland word caol, 'channel', or 'strait'. There are other possible derivations (see below). Morrison in Friday night's City volleyball title match. Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News |
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