Hoping for season sweep, Burbank girls’ volleyball swept
BURBANK – It took less than 90 minutes for the Burbank High girls’ volleyball team to lose its footing atop the Pacific League standings.
After notching a victory over Arcadia High earlier this season, the host Bulldogs were unable to secure a season sweep and fell to the Apaches, 25-21, 25-18, 25-20 in league action Tuesday afternoon.
The defeat is Burbank’s second straight after the Bulldogs lost to archival Burroughs, 3-0, on Thursday. Burbank, which entered Tuesday’s match in a three-way tie for first place, is suddenly in third at 10-2 and 6-2 in league behind Arcadia (7-2, 7-1) and Burroughs (15-2, 7-1 heading into Tuesday).
“We just talked about adversity a few minutes ago and we’re going through some right now,” Burbank coach Karl Rojo said. “We have to stay mentally strong because we have tough match-ups coming up, key important matches and right now we can’t dwell on these last two losses.”
Burbank rolled through the early portion of its schedule, which included a 17-25, 26-24, 10-25, 25-15, 15-11 victory over the reigning champion Apaches in Arcadia to open league on Sept. 9 and break a six-match losing streak to Arcadia.
Versus Arcadia this time around, the Apaches were in control.
In the third game, the Bulldogs trailed, 19-15, but rallied to within 20-19 thanks in part to an ace from sophomore Katie Treadway (eight digs) and a kill from senior opposite Suzy Torosyan (seven kills and five digs).
Just as Burbank pulled within the cusp of tying, Arcadia answered with a 3-0 spurt capped on kill from Ayala Plummer.
Perhaps most disappointing for Rojo, the final set was clinched, 25-20, and the match was won when the Bulldogs were called for a rotation violation.
“I was surprised it was a sweep because I was hoping we could push it to five like last time,” Rojo said. “But honestly there were a lot of mistakes on our end. Arcadia is a good team - they brought the heat - but we didn’t play well.”
Senior Melissa Daniel led the Bulldogs with 13 kills and two digs, while Erin Lashkari chipped in three kills and three blocks and setter Ashley Eskander tallied 31 assists.
“Revenge was a total motivation for us,” Arcadia coach Jennifer Estrada said. “I didn’t want my team to play with anger, but I wanted them to play with fire. When we lost to Burbank, there was a lot of shock. So, the girls used that shock to come out and get the win they deserved.”
Twitter: @campadresports
