Burroughs girls’ volleyball can’t overcome Arcadia’s challenge

ARCADIA — It took only one match to wipe away a season-long winning streak and aspirations of repeating such a feat.

For defending Pacific League girls’ volleyball champion Burroughs High, Thursday afternoon’s league opener was important on many levels, particularly after the Indians lost a thriller to host Arcadia, 25-16, 18-25, 25-23, 28-26.

The defeat snapped Burroughs’ 14-match league winning streak last season when the Indians went undefeated to win the crown. Perhaps more importantly this season, the loss also puts Burroughs (3-2) a critical match behind Arcadia (3-0).

“Basically, this is for the league championship and it’s only game one,” Burroughs Coach Edwin Real said. “We’ve played Arcadia before and they’re a very good team and we have to play them on a high level.

“We just have to remind ourselves that the goal is to win league and we have to get through one of the better teams.”

Burroughs junior outside hitter Marin Grote led all players with 20 kills, but was countered by Arcadia’s one-two punch of Hannah Kennedy (16 kills and four aces) and Rachel Reedy (13 kills, two blocks and one ace).

“We’ve been in this situation before with Arcadia like today,” Grote said. “Last year, we went to five with Arcadia (twice) and won. It’s not a nervous energy, but an anxious one. We put it together to our benefit and I thought we were going to win.”

Burroughs was down, 21-15, and trailed in games, 2-1, in the fourth set when it dipped into that well of energy one last time for a 9-3 run, fueled by three kills from Grote. The last of those kills put her team up, 25-24.

Kennedy and Grote then traded kills as the Indians took their final lead, 26-25.

While a Burroughs service error knotted the score, a subsequent ace from Arcadia’s Ashley McDonald put the Apaches up, 27-26. A near two-hour-long match ended when the Indians committed an attacking error to seal a 28-26 win for the Apaches.

“It’s tough, very tough always against Burroughs,” Arcadia Coach Chuck Freberg said. “Throw in that it’s the first league match of the year and it was a challenge. We did the best we could to get ready against Burroughs and we did enough.”

In the third set, the Indians were similarly on the cusp of victory.

Burroughs broke a tie at 18 with a 4-2 run to take a 21-19 advantage and led, 22-21, after an Apaches service error. Yet, Arcadia responded with a 3-0 spurt behind a kill from Kennedy and back-to-back Indians attacking errors to go up, 24-22.

Though Burroughs responded with a block from Julianna Van Loo of Arcadia’s Reedy, the Apaches went right back to Reedy. The Apaches outside hitter blasted a shot down the line that appeared to be out, but was called in for the game-winner.

“I couldn’t see from where I was at,” Real said. “You can’t complain when you put yourself in a situation where you need a call.”

Burroughs and Arcadia played even early on, as the teams were tied at 14 in the first set. Yet, from that point, Arcadia put together an impressive, if not unexpected, 11-2 spurt that culminated on a kill from McDonald to seal a 25-16 win.

Arcadia’s success continued into the second set and became an 18-3 run as the Apaches raced out to a 7-1 lead . Burroughs showed some moxie in responding, though, and launched its own 24-11 run that ended on a Grote kill that sealed the Indians’ lone victory, 25-18.

“We were almost there today, but we just didn’t quite get there,” said Burroughs senior Caleigh Paster, who finished with eight kills, two blocks and one ace. “That comes with pushing ourselves a little bit more. We picked it up in the last two games and I think it will be different the next time we play at Burroughs.”