HIGH SCHOOL VOLLEYBALL PLAYOFFS : Palisades Girls Reclaim City 4-A Championship

The Palisades High girls’ volleyball team is back, but don’t expect anyone from Chatsworth to take a seat on the welcome wagon.

The second-seeded Dolphins, who won the City Section 4-A Division championship from 1982 to 1987, defeated the Chancellors 16-14, 15-9, 15-9 Saturday to regain the title at the John Wooden center.

Led by Wendy Hromadka’s 22 kills and 15 by Erica Badran-Grycan, Palisades proved to be too powerful for Chatsworth. But the Chancellors may get another shot at the Dolphins: Both teams advanced to the state championship next week.

“Palisades is by far the toughest opponent we faced all year,” Chatsworth Coach Steve Berk said. “No team we’ve played comes close.”

In the earlier 3-A final, Adri Valdez had 13 kills and five blocks to lead Garfield team to its second consecutive championship with a 15-13, 15-9, 15-9 victory over Birmingham.

Chatsworth (18-3), led by 14 kills from Lori Mertes and 11 from Maria Mariano, stayed close in all three games.

Chatsworth trailed, 9-8, in the third game before Hromadka scored four of the Dolphins last six points.

It was the same scenario in the first and second games.

Chatsworth trailed, 11-6, in the first game before scoring eight of the next 10 points to take a 14-13 lead.

But after a service ace by Daisy Sudparid, a kill by Bassler and another Sudparid ace, Palisades scored the last three points on kills by Kristen Becker, Hromadka and Michelle Teo.

In the 3-A final, Birmingham took a 6-3 lead in the third game, but Valdez had four kills and two blocks to snuff out the rally and spark Garfield.

Garfield (19-0) took control of the match in the second game, increasing a 7-5 lead to 14-5--three of those points coming on Valdez kills.

“After Garfield won the first game, we just panicked and froze,” said Coach Bud Dow of Birmingham (17-2). “I’d like to say we played our best, but we didn’t.”