Rally gives Burroughs High girls’ volleyball crosstown victory
Burroughs High’s girls’ volleyball team rallied past Burbank on Thursday.
There was a moment when the Burbank High girls’ volleyball team was about to add its imprint to the Pacific League title chase happily at the expense of archrival Burroughs.
The visiting Bulldogs won the first set in Thursday evening’s league match and took an early five-point lead in the second game.
At that moment, the defending league champion Indians turned to 6-foot-5 outside hitter Marin Grote and 6-foot middle blocker Juliana Van Loo.
The duo led Burroughs to a comeback victory in the second set and an eventual, 22-25, 25-19, 25-15, 25-16 win.
With the triumph, Burroughs (13-3, 6-1 in league) kept its chances of at least splitting a league crown alive as the squad will host league-leading Arcadia (13-0, 7-0) on Tuesday. The Apaches won the first meeting, 3-1, in Arcadia on Sept. 8.
“Hey, the other team is going to play well when they come and play us and we told [our team] to weather the storm,” Burroughs Coach Edwin Real said of Thursday’s match. “They’re going to get their points and do some good things, but we just have to play calm, be calm and get back at them.”
Grote totaled a match-high 12 kills, four blocks and one ace, while Van Loo added eight kills.
In the second set, Grote tallied five kills, two blocks and an ace.
The effort was needed, as Burbank (10-4-1, 4-3) won the first set, 25-22, and took a 10-5 advantage in the second set on back-to-back aces from senior Carly Palmisano.
Burroughs caught its break when Palmisano smacked a service error and the Indians responded with a 15-3 run fueled by three kills and two blocks from Grote, a junior. The final of Grote’s points during the run was a stuff of Burbank’s top hitter Hailey Heath (team-high 11 kills and five aces) that put the home team up, 20-13.
Though Burbank pulled to within five points, Van Loo added four kills and the Bulldogs’ shaky serving cost the team when a service error secured Burroughs a 25-19 win in the second set.
“We came back because we played as a team and got out of our way,” Grote said. “We were upset with some of the calls and just had to ignore that and play with each other.
“I think, personally, that Burbank did catch us by surprise and they played really well.”
Burroughs reversed its trend of starting out slowly in the first two sets by jumping on Burbank in the third game as the Indians raced to a 14-7 advantage. Indians senior Caleigh Paster, who finished with seven kills and three blocks, closed out the 25-15 victory with a kill.
The fourth set was relatively close midway through as a kill from Heath brought the Bulldogs within 13-9.
Burbank, though, never cut its deficit to less than four points before an ace from Lauren Zedlar closed out a 25-16 win for the Indians.
“I feel like after that first loss, we all decided to trust each other and just bring the energy way up,” Van Loo said. “It helped that we were having fun. It’s always great to play Burbank, our rivals.”
For a while, the happy feelings and emotions were clearly on the visitor’s side.
Heath tallied two aces and a kill and senior Colette Reynolds connected on four kills to lead the Bulldogs to a 25-22 win in the first set.
With the set tied at 21, the Indians committed two straight attacking errors, while junior setter Hannah Porter iced the game with an ace.
Somewhat surprisingly, Reynolds saw limited action the rest of the match as Burbank Coach Karl Rojo mixed and matched several players, trying to find a winning combination.
“It was just an adjustment,” Rojo said. “I thought maybe if I made that, it would put a spark on the court and fire us up and it kind of worked here and there, but the other side was just really strong.”
While Burbank survived eight service errors in the first set, the team’s overall 19 gaffes ate away at momentum the entire contest.
