Enstedt Plays Numbers Game : Volleyball: Palisades coach has won eight City championships during his career.

Howard Enstedt loves to rattle off certain numbers.

Ask him and Enstedt will tell you that in his 29 years as boys’ volleyball coach at Palisades High the Dolphins have won eight championships. The City started awarding titles in 1974.

He also points out that Palisades has reached the championship game 11 times and has missed the playoffs only once: in 1980 when an undefeated season ended prematurely because the Dolphins used an ineligible player.

These days, however, Enstedt’s favorite number is two.

With two more victories, Palisades will win its ninth City title. For Enstedt, nothing would be better than for the Dolphins to defeat Western League rival University for the second time this season along the way.

Palisades and University have split two matches. Enstedt is looking forward to a possible rubber match with the Warriors Friday night at Cal State Northridge for the City 4-A Division championship.

University (12-2) gained the top-seeded position in the playoffs by defeating Palisades on April 27 at home, ending the Dolphins’ 12-game regular-season win streak. Palisades had defeated the Warriors earlier in the season, but University won a coin flip to determine the league champion and No. 1 seeded team.

Palisades advanced to the semifinals with two easy playoff victories. The Dolphins play Westchester, a team they have defeated twice this season, Tuesday at Westchester.

However, it is University, which plays Chatsworth in the other semifinal, that Palisades wants most.

“We can’t wait to play them again,� said Enstedt, who has sent more than 55 players to colleges on volleyball scholarships. “We really feel that we have the better team, but they beat us on a day that we just were not ready to play. They were really up and played great. We just want a chance to play them again.�

Enstedt is a graduate of University. There once was a time, he said, when all he did was eat and sleep for the Warriors.

“I used to have so much loyalty for University when I was a kid,� said Enstedt, who played basketball, football and ran track in high school. “Now, things are different and Palisades is my school.�

Enstedt, 59, says that his current Palisades team is one of his best. The Dolphins have a 15-1 nontournament record. They also won their own tournament and held their own in two other tournaments that featured some of the state’s top teams.

During the regular season, Palisades had a 4-0 record against Southern Section opponents, including victories over Santa Monica, Manhattan Beach Mira Costa and North Hollywood Harvard/Westlake.

The top player for Palisades is junior Colin Wellman, who Enstedt says is one of the best jumpers he has coached. Wellman, a 6-foot-3 middle hitter/blocker, leads the team in kills and is regarded as one of the City’s top players.

“He hits the quick set as well as anyone I’ve coached,� Enstedt said. “What makes him so good is that he jumps so high.�

Senior John Lee, a 6-1 two-year starter, and senior Bart Rachmil are Palisades’ outside hitters. Seniors Sam Whang and Marty Leshin are the setters in the Dolphins’ offensive system.

Enstedt has seen high school volleyball change through the years.

“When I first started out coaching, volleyball was practically unknown,� he said. “The players who played for me then all played other sports. They didn’t specialize like the kids do now. Today, kids don’t even think about going out for other sports.

“It’s hard to say if the players are better today because we didn’t have film then. But we had some great players here over the years. I think players back then were better all-around athletes and were tougher because they brought that mentality in from the other sports. But the players might have better skills now.�

Enstedt is considered the state’s senior statesman of high school volleyball and is known throughout the volleyball community for his outspokenness and his coaching style during matches.

With a demeanor more akin to the football sideline than the volleyball bench, Enstedt is aware that he has some detractors within the volleyball community.

“Volleyball people hate me because I yell from the sideline and get into the action,� Enstedt said. “They say that is not the way to coach volleyball, but that is just me. I coached football for 20 years and that is in me.

“But, I’ve calmed down a lot over years. . . . well, maybe a little bit.�

Enstedt says his style may have cost Palisades at least two City titles. He blew up over calls during championship matches that helped ignite Dolphin opponents to comeback victories in 1982 and 1989.

Enstedt has fought to have student line officials removed from working regular-season matches and for the establishment of a boys’ state tournament. Enstedt said he doesn’t plan to change much in his final years coaching.

“I think my stability has helped the program here be successful,� Enstedt said. “I expect to be here a few more years. The way I see it, I have to be the senior (volleyball) coach in the nation because the sport has only been sanctioned in the state since (1974) and I’ve been coaching since 1963. But, it’ll be nice to win one more city title.�