By Rick Assad
Four sets determined the winner when Burroughs High took on host Burbank in a Pacific League boys’ volleyball match.
Even after losing the initial game by two points, the Bears stormed back and swept the next three and captured the match on Friday evening, 27-29, 25-18, 25-13, 25-22 over their archrival.
That first set was amazing as it was tied six times down the stretch before the Bulldogs emerged as junior Brandon Chong had a set-winning push.
The game was knotted 22-22 and also at 23-23 on a kill from the Bears’ Noah Duffield, who stood out among many standouts.
It was even at 24-24 on a tapper from Burbank senior Caiden Kai Abarabar and 25-25 on a service miscue from Burbank senior Jun Angel.
Duffield’s service error made it 26-26 and 27-27 on Kai Abarabar’s service error.
The Bulldogs led 6-2 on a kill from junior Michael Becker and 11-8 on a winner from teammate, senior Kaden Moore.
Becker’s spike made it 14-10 and later 16-11 on a mishit from the Bears’ Marco Santiago-Dorn.
A kill from Burbank senior Farkhat Taishev increased the advantage to 19-15 as time was requested by Burroughs.
Burbank then slithered in front 22-18 on a kill from Moore.
Brandon Villaflor is Burbank’s head coach and said his team played well.
“I thought we did a great job of challenging them offensively. We started the game off with great energy, and put pressure on them with tough serves,” he said. “I thought going into the second and third [sets], we just had a couple of unforced errors, and got flustered off some of their runs.”
Villaflor added: “However, I’m very proud of how we responded in the fourth set, and how collectively we were involved as a team in the stretch,” he said.
Burroughs (13-5 and 4-0 in league) forged ahead 6-4 in the fourth game on a kill from Santiago-Dorn, but Burbank (2-8 and 0-4 in league) tied it at 10-10 on Becker’s push.
It was deadlocked at 14-14 on an ace from Moore and a service winner from senior Noah Lam made it 17-16 in favor of the Bulldogs as the Bears called time out.
A block from Taishev made it 21-20 as the hosts led but Burroughs took a 23-21 lead on a kill from Gavin Etterbeek as Burbank needed a stoppage in play.
Duffield’s ace made it 24-21 and the set was official on Santiago-Dorn’s spike.
The second set saw the Bears move in front 9-5 on a service winner by Devon Romo and it became 11-5 on Duffield’s bullet.
A kill from Skyy Alston made it 13-6 in favor of the Bears and Duffield’s push extended the lead to 18-11.
Santiago-Dorn’s spike made it 19-12 and Duffield’s tapper increased the margin to 23-15.
Alston added a block to make it 24-16 and Duffield’s push ended the game.
The Bears eased into a 4-0 lead in the third set on a Burbank mishit and it ballooned to 9-5 on Alston’s dagger.
Duffield’s stuff made it 13-7 as Burbank needed a stop in the action and Alston’s ace made it 15-8.
Duffield’s kill made it 19-8 and Duffield’s push saw the Bears march in front 20-8 as the Bulldogs asked for a time out.
Etterbeek’s kill made it 23-11 and Riley Brinton’s spike made it 24-13. When Angel’s ball hit the net, it was over.
