By Rick Assad
Nine points stood as the difference between host Burroughs High and Arcadia in a Pacific League boys’ volleyball match.
Powered by hitting sprees and also finesse, the Apaches edged the Bears 25-23, 26-24, 25-20 on Tuesday afternoon.
Burroughs played fairly decent well but couldn’t get over the hump against a strong Arcadia squad.
It’s likely that Burroughs, Arcadia and defending league champion Crescenta Valley will battle for the top spot.
“The difference was Arcadia did a great job of making us extend rallies with their great defense,” Burroughs coach Joel Brinton said. “We struggled to put the ball away and it led to a bunch of hitting errors on our side. Tough to win when you aren’t efficient at hitting. We weren’t and Arcadia deserves credit.”
The first two games were nip-and-tuck throughout and saw the Bears pull ahead 2-1 on a kill from Gavin Arnold in the opening set.
The Apaches (9-1 and 2-0 in league) marched in front 7-6 on a kill from Darren Yang, but Charlie Gerard’s winner saw Burroughs tie it at 8-8.
The Bears (6-5 and 1-1 in league) outscored the Apaches 6-1 and during that stretch Benji Ly added two kills for Burroughs which made it 12-9 and 13-9.
The Bears led 14-9 on a hitting error from Arcadia’s Caleb Lee and Ryder Tafoya’s stuff handed Burroughs an 18-12 advantage.
Arnold’s kill made it 20-17, but the Apaches evened it at 21-21 on a push from Lingesh Dhamotharan as the Bears needed a time out.
A kill from Henry Carlin evened it at 22-22, but a block from Arcadia’s Isaiah McMahon pushed the lead to 23-22 as Burroughs requested a stoppage in play.
McMahon’s tapper made it 24-22 and McMahon’s stuff secured the opening game for the Apaches.
The second game began well for Arcadia which led 3-0 on an ace from Adrian Pun.
The Bears bounced back to even it at 6-6 on Gerard’s block and Carlin’s kill tied it at 7-7.
An ace from Arcadia’s Thomas Shi leveled it at 10-10 but Skyy Alston’s dagger for the Bears tied it at 12-12.
Burroughs surged in front 19-15 on three straight service aces from Ly and kills from Jae Kung to make it 18-15 and a push from Gerard to make it 19-15.
From this point, Arcadia went on an 11-5 blitz and captured the second set with key points made by Dhamotharan that tied it at 21-21 and an ace that made it 26-24.
The match-sealer saw Burroughs race to a 7-1 lead as Ly had kills to make it 1-1, 4-1 and 6-1.
The Bears led 10-3 on a block from Arnold, but the Apaches rallied and evened it at 12-12 on Gerard’s hitting miscue.
McMahon’s push made it 18-15 in favor of Arcadia but the Bears roared back to within 19-17 on a tapper from Ly as the Apaches asked for a rest.
Arcadia led 23-19 on a service winner from Kevin Nakaishi and McMahon’s block made it three straight games.
