Poly Won’t Give Sylmar a Thing, Wins 3-A Title

EAGLE ROCK — OK, so maybe Poly High wasn’t that friendly.

The Parrots let Sylmar use their gymnasium during the playoffs, but put their foot down when they met the Spartans in the City Section 3-A Division championship match.

The courtesy ended where the Parrots’ first 3-A title began, with a 15-2, 15-7, 6-15, 15-8, victory over Sylmar on Saturday night at Occidental College.

“It’s unreal,” Coach Jimmy Ikeda said. “These kids worked so hard. Wow, what a feeling.”

Outside hitter Gabby Gallardo had 12 kills for the top-seeded Parrots (15-2), who passed, served and attacked better than the second-seeded Spartans (13-4).

Sylmar, which played the entire season without its gymnasium while it underwent construction of a new floor, used Poly’s gym as a home site during the first three rounds of the playoffs.

But hospitality was dropped in the final between the Valley Pac-8 Conference rivals, who split two matches during the regular season.

“We weren’t thinking that we knew them,” Gallardo said. “We were thinking as if this was our first time playing them and the last time taking them out.”

Poly established itself on the outside with three quick kills by Gallardo in the first game.

Sylmar dissolved into a mess of hitting errors, including four by middle blocker Kassy Jimenez, and the Parrots won the last 11 points of the game.

The Spartans, who were going for their third 3-A title in four years, cleaned up their act in the second game and got rid of most of the hitting errors.

But they couldn’t get rid of Sonia Munoz, who had five kills for Poly, which gradually extended a 7-6 lead and grabbed a 2-0 lead in games.

“We were very nervous from the start,” said Sylmar Coach Bob Thomson. “We had too many handicaps to overcome, but to get this far was pretty impressive.”

Sylmar took a 4-0 lead, its first of the match, in the third game and forced Poly to call its first timeout. Nancy Ariza contributed six kills and the Spartans got to within 2-1.

But the Parrots regained control in the fourth game.

Jimenez finished with seven kills and four blocks, while Ariza had nine kills for Sylmar.

Munoz and Vicky Ianni each had eight kills for Poly.