Boys’ volleyball: Road to City championship goes through Chatsworth

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Chatsworth’s reputation preceded it going into the season and maybe that’s the reason it was chosen as the No. 1 seed for the City Section playoffs, which begin Thursday night.

The one-loss Chancellors got the nod ahead of Palisades, which hasn’t lost a best three-out-of-five match all year. West Valley co-winner Granada Hills got the No. 3 seed, Valley Mission League winner Sylmar is No. 4, Western runner-up Venice is No. 5 and Sunset Six League champion Van Nuys was picked sixth in the 32-team draw.

Chatsworth suffered a late-season sweep on its home court at the hands of reigning City champion Granada Hills--a setback that seemingly left the door open for Western League champion Palisades to grab the No. 1 spot. As the two highest seeds, Chatsworth and Palisades have home-court advantage throughout the playoffs. The finals are May 17 at Cal State Northridge, where Palisades won its last City title in 1998.

Since then, West Valley League teams have won nine consecutive section titles. Until its streak ends that league will continue to get the benefit of the doubt at seeding time.

First-round losers drop to an Invitational bracket and winners stay in the Championship draw. Visit the City Section website at www.cif-la.org for complete City, Invitational and Small Schools pairings.

-- Steve galluzzo