Girls’ volleyball preview: Burroughs looks to repeat as league champion
Burroughs High was the lone local girls’ volleyball team to capture a league championship last season, as it won the Pacific League title.
Although the Indians did lose one of their top players to graduation, the team has its share of returning talent.
“I think we’re looking pretty good,” Burroughs Coach Edwin Real said. “You just don’t replace a player like Danielle Ryan, but we have some other players who we hope are going to step up for us.”
For Burbank, it has the majority of its team back, including a group of all-league players.
Over at Bellarmine-Jefferson, the Guards also have a solid group of returners, spearheaded by players who helped the school’s girls’ basketball team reach a CIF Southern Section championship game last winter.
For coach James Jimenez at Providence, he is trying to fill spots and move players into positions after graduating some key athletes.
Playing in its first full season of competition, Lycee International of Los Angeles joins the International League and will tackle a full schedule after playing on a limited scale last season in its inaugural year.
Here is a closer look at the teams.
BURROUGHS
The Indians are coming off a successful 2015 season. The team went 23-8 and swept through the Pacific League, earning the title with a 14-0 record. In addition, Burroughs advanced to the Division II-A quarterfinals, losing in five games to Serrano.
However, the team lost Ryan to graduation after the outside hitter earned All-CIF and All-Area first-team honors, as well as being named the co-league player of the year.
“We did lose some of our key players from last year,” Real said. “Danielle was one of our main hitters and she was a very important part of the team. We are really going to have to try and make up for what she gave us and hopefully some of our other players will be able to step up and do that.
“We still have other hitting options, which is good. We just have to make sure we put the right players in place.”
Also not returning is first-team all-league junior setter Peyton Jenson, who transferred.
Burroughs does have the luxury of having the other half of the co-player-of-the-year tandem back. Junior Marin Grote was moved from the middle to the outside last season and that translated to 112 kills in league competition. Real said the 6-foot-4 Grote has spent the summer playing high level club volleyball and should make an impact again this season.
“She looks good,” Real said. “She does compete at a high level outside high school and she just practices very hard and she’s pretty goal-oriented.
“She will be on the outside, for the most part, this season. Our ball control doesn’t allow us to put her in the middle ... but if we want to, we can still push her to the middle when we need to, we have that flexibility. For her club team, she only plays in the middle, so she’s used to being there.”
Also returning for Burroughs are senior middle Caleigh Paster, a second-team all-league selection, and junior outside hitter Julianna Cottrell, who was an honorable mention. Three additional returners are junior setter Lauren Zedlar, senior outside hitter Cesera Suarez and senior opposite Sophia Rizzotti.
A player who joins the varsity this season and who has impressed Real is sophomore middle Jiliana Van Loo, the younger sister of 2016 All-Area Boys’ Volleyball Player of the Year Ryan Van Loo.
In league, Burroughs will see where it stands pretty quickly when it opens play on the road Sept. 8 against an Arcadia team some say should vie for a title.
“We played them in summer and we battled them and they won in three in a best-of-three,” Real said. “We didn’t have Marin for that game and they didn’t have their big gun, either. Opening up against them is tough. Arcadia should be a good test for us.”
BURBANK
The Bulldogs (15-13-1) qualified for the Division II-A playoffs last season after a fourth-place finish in the Pacific League. In the postseason, Burbank fell in a wild-card contest to Palm Springs in three games.
Burbank also played its share of matches during the summer, including hosting its own summer league.
“I think playing during the summer really helped us as a team,” coach Karl Rojo said. “There was some definite team bonding, we were able to build some good team chemistry and the girls were really able to get to know one another. We were also able to see the girls’ playing style, their abilities and what they could contribute to the team.
“It’s coming together really nice so far. This team has a very positive energy, they are very diligent in practice and they’re focus is pretty consistent so far.”
The Bulldogs return a core of key players, including a trio of all-league honorees. The lone first-team returner is junior setter Melissa Damiel, who had 295 assists, 118 digs and 26 aces last season. Joining her is second-team senior libero Carly Palmisano and senior outside hitter Hailey Heath, an honorable mention.
“It’s good to have the players with some experience back,” Rojo said. “The knowledge that they have is very helpful, because they’re passing that knowledge down to the younger girls and they are learning a lot.
“The competition is also really great in practice. Everyone is improving and working hard. ...What we want to instill in the players is to just build a passion for the sport, to focus on improvement and really work together as a team.”
Also returning are senior opposite Rachel Wiley, senior middle Nicole Winter and senior outside hitter Colette Reynolds.
“In our league, I expect everyone to be tough,” Rojo said. “I think it’s going to be tight all the way, but anything can happen. One of our objectives is to make it to playoffs, but we also are focused on improving as a team.”
PROVIDENCE
It was a struggle for Providence (18-10-1) to make the playoffs last season. The Pioneers tied for third place in the Liberty League and lost a coin flip for the last guaranteed playoff spot from the league. Providence applied for an at-large berth and was one of two teams in the division to be granted a place in the tournament.
In the first round of the Division IV-AA playoffs, Providence was swept by No. 3 Vistamar.
The Pioneers graduated a group of players from that squad, including four-year contributor Nikka Adraneda.
“We lost eight seniors last year and some of those players were important parts to our team,” Jimenez said. “But we have a good core of juniors who are coming back, including our setter, which is good, and one of our better players in the middle back. So, we do have some experience coming back.
“We are also going to have to rely on some of the [junior varsity] players who are coming up to help out. We lost some of our better passers from last year, but with the players that we do have, I think we can make up for that.”
The team’s returning setter is senior Alyssa Camacho and returning in the middle is senior Ava Midkiff.
A transfer from Burroughs who played on the junior varsity level last year is junior outside hitter Talia Patterson, who will be eligible on Oct. 3. Other returners are junior outside hitter Giselle Camonayan and senior opposite/setter Danica Tagupa.
“I think we have a good team chemistry and it’s a good group,” Jimenez said. “We are definitely going to look to our returning players for leadership because they’ve been through it before and they know what to expect.”
In league, Jimenez said he expects tough competition from Archer and Milken Community.
“We also have Glendale Adventist in our league after coming from the Independence League and they take the place of Holy Martyrs,” Jimenez said.
Glendale Adventist Academy won the Independence League title in 2015.
BELLARMINE-JEFFERSON
The Guards made huge strides last season under first-year coach Cindy Ortiz, finishing 7-14 and placing fourth in the six-team Santa Fe League with a 4-7 mark. One season earlier, Bell-Jeff went 0-17, 0-10.
“Last year was tough, because I was just taking over and I really didn’t have that much time to work with the girls before the season started,” Ortiz said. “But I’ve been here a year now and things are running a lot more smoothly with the program. We are so much further as a program now then we were at this time a year ago.
“I have six returning girls this year and those players have really been helping out the new incoming freshmen and some transfers who have come in. The returning girls already know me and they know what to expect from me. ...We just want to keep moving the program forward and we want to keep improving.”
Some of the key returners are senior Vanessa Smith, who was an outside hitter last season but might move around to other positions this year, sophomore outside hitter Dalila Rincan, junior utility Catherine Suntayco, junior middle Claire Borot, junior utility Cosette Balmy and senior libero/utility Ara Hernandez.
One of the transfers who could help is sophomore Madison Gibson, who comes from Ribet Academy and will play in the middle or on the outside.
“We have some girls who are very athletic,” Ortiz said. “We still need to work on their volleyball skills, but the athleticism is definitely there. That is a big difference from last year when half of the players had never touched a volleyball before.
“Most of the girls we have now know the game, we just need to work on their fundamentals and clean up some bad habits.”
In the Santa Fe League, St. Genevieve moved out of the league. Ortiz said she expects tough competition to come from Mary Star of the Sea.
“With St. Genevieve out, I think we will have a better chance at making the playoffs,” Ortiz said.
LYCEE INTERNATIONAL
Embarking on the team’s first full season of CIF competition, coach Leonardo Granato said his Lions are excited about the upcoming campaign.
“Last year, it was really our first time competing against different schools and we really didn’t play a normal full schedule,” he said. “For some of the girls, it was very different for them, because we never really played in front of crowds and opposing fans.
“But I really think it was fun for them, although there were some things that we could have improved on. And now this season we have increased our games and we will be playing more. We are looking forward to seeing how we are going to do.”
Granato, who estimates he lost five or six seniors to graduation, doesn’t have a set lineup in place yet and will be conducting try-outs next week.
“It’s kind of a rebuilding year fro us,” Granato said. “A lot of the players I have coming this year are freshmen. I’m also trying to recruit some players from our basketball team.”
Two returning players the coach will be expecting a lot from are senior outside hitter Chloe Whyte and sophomore outside hitter Dylan Priestly.
“The two are club players and they have volleyball experience, so they will be key players for us,” Granato said.
The coach said he is taking a wait-and-see approach when it comes to his prospects in the International League.
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Jeff Tully, jeff.tully@latimes.com
Twitter: @jefftsports