By Rick Assad
After taking the first two sets fairly easily, the Burroughs High boys’ volleyball team found itself in a real battle during the third set versus visiting Burbank.
Down four points late in the game and sensing the match was perhaps slipping away at least slightly, the Bears rallied and found an extra gear and outscored the Bulldogs 11-4 and won the set and the match.
For the record, Burroughs claimed a 25-14, 25-13, 25-22 triumph and was in control for the vast majority of the Pacific League match on Tuesday night.
Burbank had to contend with a number of heavy hitters on the Bears’ roster namely Noah Duffield, Marco Santiago-Dorn, Skyy Alston and Jack Szaras.
They’re a handful for sure but the Bulldogs (3-11 and 1-7 in league) had their own big swingers and they numbered Michael Becker and Brandon Chong.
The deciding game was knotted an incredible ten times and began 2-2 on Alston’s winner. A kill from Chong evened it at 5-5 and Alston’s rocket tied it at 6-6.
Jack Szaras delivered a kill for the Bears (20-7 and 7-1 in league) that knotted it at 10-10 and a push from Santiago-Dorn made it 12-12.
Burbank then went on a 6-2 spurt and led 18-14 on a hitting error by Szaras.
At this point in the set, Burbank was filled with confidence, and a win would have forced a fourth set and anything could have happened.
Taking the next four straight points, Burroughs evened it at 18-18 on a push from Szaras.
The Bears weren’t done as they led 21-19 on a kill from Duffield but the Bulldogs leveled it at 21-21 on a bullet from Chong.
Santiago-Dorn went on his run as he added two kills that made it 22-21 and 23-21 as the Bears assumed the lead.
Alston’s push made it 24-22 and a kill from Duffield was the set and game-winner.
Joel Brinton is the longtime Burroughs head coach and also realizes his team has the potential to advance deep in the CIF Southern Section playoffs.
“Our kids stayed calm and trusted the process. We were making some careless errors and got ourselves back on track,” he explained of what stood out. “It was nice to see them calm and confident and not worry about the score.”
Brandon Villaflor is Burbank’s head coach and even with the setback, saw some good things.
“I just think we got caught up in our heads in a couple of mistakes, and just weren’t able to challenge them offensively,” he said. “That third set, I thought we did a better job of cleaning up receive and finding better rhythm. I just didn’t think we found a consistent one at that.”
The first game commenced with the Bears marching ahead 5-1 on Santiago-Dorn’s kill and pulled in front 7-2 on a service ace from Santiago-Dorn.
The advantage expanded to 13-8 on Duffield’s push and 16-9 on a spike from Szaras.
When Devon Romo rolled an ace for the Bears the cushion became 19-10 as the Bulldogs needed a stoppage in play.
Alston’s kill made it 21-12 while an ace from Greg Guzman put the Bears in front 23-13. Burroughs took two of the next three points including Duffield’s kill for the first set.
The second game saw the Bears lead 8-2 on an ace from Santiago-Dorn while Duffield’s block made it 10-5.
Duffield’s kill made it 12-6 and a spike from Szaras shoved the Bears in front 17-9.
Romo delivered three straight service aces that increased Burroughs advantage to 19-11, 20-11 and 21-11.
Luke Kang’s ace made it 24-13 in favor of the Bears and Riley Brinton’s kill ended the set.
