At times the Burroughs High boys’ volleyball team looked ready for the start of the CIF Southern Section playoffs.
There were also times when the Indians didn’t look ready when they hosted Roosevelt High of Eastvale in a Division 2 match Tuesday.
Burroughs won 25-12, 25-18, 25-16, but was not clicking on all cylinders throughout the match.
“We’re used to going to these big tournaments and stepping up our level of play,” Burroughs coach Joel Brinton said. “It’s hard for 17 and 18-year-olds to remember that. I think this served as a good reminder.”
Burroughs (24-5), the No. 3 seed, moves on to the second round Thursday at Long Beach Poly.
The Indians defeated the Jackrabbits 25-15, 25-18, 25-13 in March, also at Long Beach Poly.
Burroughs looked itself in the first game Tuesday, easily winning 25-12.
But that fire did not continue in the second and third games.
Burroughs had six serving errors in the second game and had four more in the third.
“There was no need for 10 service errors,” Brinton said. “That’s something you can fix and learn from it.”
Burroughs allowed Roosevelt to keep it close at 11-10 before a kill from junior Conner Ludlum, one of 10 he had for the match.
“I think Roosevelt deserves credit. They stepped up from game one,” Brinton said. “It wasn’t the best technical volleyball, but they were working hard. They were working harder than we were.”
The visiting Mustangs (16-7) fought back on the next point with a kill from Seth Davis.
But Bailey Carter and Ludlum had back-to-back kills as the Indians began to break away.
Burroughs trailed 9-7 in the third game, before a pair of back-to-back kills from Carter made it 17-13.
Andrew Dalmada, who finished with eight kills, had three kills late in the match.
Dalmada said his team will be more focused when faced with going against tougher opponents. He noted that Burroughs played well in a tournament loss to national power Manhattan Beach Mira Costa earlier in the season.
“Having that experience is really nice to have. We know if we play our game we can hang with them,” Dalmada said of top teams. “With the high-level teams the high energy will come with it. There were so many runs (tonight) that I felt made up for the service errors. Still it was more than what we would like.”
Cameron Capili, who had 10 kills and six aces said he expects a tough match Thursday.
“We beat them the first time. I expect them to come out with a lot of fire and passion,” Capili said. “Knowing my team, I’m confident and feel we can take it.
Setter Ryan Van Loo had 34 assists.
