Boys’ volleyball: Highlanders’ coach gives credit where it’s due

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Ten minutes after Granada Hills’ reign as City champion ended Tuesday night in Pacific Palisades, Coach Tom Harp was in a matter-of-fact mood. Rather than offer up excuses for his team’s shaky performance, he simply gave credit to the other team.

‘Palisades played a solid game and they deserved to win,’ he said after the Highlanders’ 13-25, 25-20, 25-17, 25-22 semifinal loss. ‘Our lack of blocking and the fact that we couldn’t get any runs going really cost us.’

Harp also issued a proclamation--one that doesn’t bode well for Palisades’ next opponent, ninth-seeded El Camino Real: ‘If those guys play as well as they did tonight, they’re going to be awfully tough to beat.’

Palisades and El Camino Real meet in the Championship Division finals at 5 p.m. on Saturday at Cal State Northridge and the second-seeded Dolphins will be favored to win, especially after handling a Highlanders’ squad that beat El Camino Real twice in West Valley League matches.

Meanwhile, Tuesday’s match was an abrupt and unceremonious ending for Granada Hills, which hadn’t lost a playoff match in three seasons. Joe Randis had 16 kills and Jon Ben-Haim and Andrew Pitters each added eight in the loss.

‘Palisades just outplayed us tonight,’ Harp said. ‘It’s as simple as that.’

-- Steve Galluzzo