Redemption, SoCal title earned by Burroughs volleyball

HUNTINGTON BEACH — With a team led by five seniors, it didn’t figure the Burroughs High boys’ volleyball squad lacked for experience.

Yet, the Indians learned a valuable and painful lesson May 21 when they fell behind and ultimately lost the CIF Southern Section Division II championship to Oak Park.

With a week to stew and examine past errors, the second-seeded Indians found redemption and revenge Saturday afternoon by defeating top-seeded Oak Park, 25-23, 22-25, 25-23, 25-21 for the CIF Southern California Regional Division II championship at Edison High.

The title is the first postseason championship — either Southern Section or regional — for the volleyball program, the school’s first-ever regional crown and Burroughs’ second CIF championship in any sport.

“We didn’t do a lot of things we needed to do last Saturday and we did them today,” Burroughs Coach Joel Brinton said. “The difference was shown. Our middles were way better, our blocking was way better and our serving was way better.

“I think that experience of playing in a championship game [was key]. You know for them last week, they had never done it before, so for this one, they were more low-key because they had already been through this.”

Burroughs senior outside hitter Andrew D’Almada led his team with 19 kills, while senior Cameron Capili added 14 kills, junior Conner Ludlum chipped in nine kills and senior Bailey Carter contributed six kills. Senior setter Ryan Van Loo tallied 47 assists and six kills and junior Skyler Bercini finished with 13 digs.

The biggest kill of the match was one that was briefly disputed when Capili blasted a spike that went out of play with Pacific League-champion Burroughs (31-6) leading, 24-21, in the fourth set and leading the match, 2-1, versus Oak Park (36-5-1).

While the Eagles believed the kill went wayward, about two seconds after the conclusion of the play, the head official ruled the ball had been tipped and that Burroughs had secured a 25-21 victory and a 3-1 triumph.

“I was certain,” said Capili when asked if the ball had been tipped. “I told my setter Ryan right before to give this ball to me so we could end it.”

Burroughs appeared ready to celebrate earlier, as the Indians broke a tie at 9 with a 10-3 run capped on an ace from D’Almada to go up, 19-12.

Oak Park burned a timeout and then came out on fire after the break.

The Eagles responded to what seemed like a knockout punch with five straight points to climb to within 19-17 on a block from Justin Stone.

The Eagles’ surge, though, was answered by a kill from D’Almada followed by an ace from Ludlum as Burroughs went up, 21-17, and never looked back.

“It helped being behind last Saturday,” D’Almada said. “So, when we ran into adversity, we reset and refocused and got the win. It’s just an awesome feeling to win.”

Burroughs used late rallies to take the first and third sets.

Oak Park trailed for most of the third set before taking a short-lived 22-21 advantage on an Indians’ attacking error.

The Eagles gave away the lead and momentum, though, with a service error. Both teams traded a point before the Indians reached set-point on a kill from Van Loo. On the very next possession, Carter closed out the win with a front-row spike that secured the 25-23 victory.

On the flip side, Burroughs never led in the first set until an Eagles’ hitting error gave the Indians a 23-22 lead.

Though Oak Park pulled even at 23 with a kill from Adam Parks, Burroughs scored back-to-back points, including on a Carter stuff of Oak Park’s Sean Fitzpatrick to clinch the win.

“It feels amazing to win this and I feel honored to have had a part,” Carter said. “We worked hard to win this championship and we did.”

Burroughs’ only setback came in the second set, when the Eagles pulled even at 1 with a 25-22 victory that ended on an Indians’ double-hit violation.

Yet, that loss and 3-2 defeat in the Southern Section Division II title game to Oak Park only made victories in the last two sets mean even more.

“I have just joy for the kids and for the program,” Brinton said. “There’s been a lot of hard work over 10 years for myself and there’s been a lot of hard work for these kids for the last three, four years. They just did a great job today following the game plan and executing it. I’m just ecstatic for them.”

Burroughs’ championship squad includes Anton Prather, Everett Kanoho, Jarrett Malone, Kurt Miller, Jose Levi Benitez, Diego Rosal, Azael Estrada, William Singleton, Cole Kaitz and Scott McHorney. Brinton was assisted by Daniel Marbach and Danny Casillas.