Burbank boys’ volleyball sweeps Arcadia in league opener
BURBANK — Looking for its first win of the season, the Burbank High boys’ volleyball team opened Pacific League play Thursday afternoon against a foe it has enjoyed a great deal of success against.
The Bulldogs took on visiting Arcadia, a team it had not lost to in five years.
Led by Jonathan Ragheb, the Bulldogs continued their dominance over the Apaches, earning a sweep, 25-22, 25-22, 25-23.
The win was the ninth straight for Burbank (1-2) against Arcadia (4-3, 1-1 in league), which last lost to the Apaches on April 12, 2013.
“Today was a lot better and I feel we were mentally tougher than we were in the first two matches that we played,” said Burbank coach Karl Rojo, whose squad suffered five-game losses to Hart and El Camino Real to start the season. “We stayed mentally tough.
“I thought their effort was sound on defense and we didn’t get too down when we played badly. The effort was definitely there in our defense today when it wasn’t in our first two matches.”
Ragheb, a senior outside hitter, paced the Burbank offense, finishing with a match-high 17 kills. Junior Ryan Rickey added 10 kills, freshman Jonathan Coleman had 20 digs and senior Brian Valmonte contributed 40 assists.
“We are just trying to work our way up and we’re just trying to get better every day,” Ragheb said. “Every single game we’re hoping the ceiling goes up with our play.
“It’s so important to be able to get the first league win. We knew after those first two losses it did’t matter what happened before, we just had to come out with the ‘W’ and we did.”
In the opening game, the Apaches took an early lead, 11-8. Burbank took a brief lead, 14-13, before the Apaches tied things up at 14. But the Bulldogs went on a 4-0 run, culminating with a kill from Rickey to take an 18-14 lead.
Arcadia stayed within striking distance in the opener, coming to within 23-22 following a Burbank lift call. Arcadia followed with a service error into the net and Rickey finished things off with a kill to give the Bulldogs the game.
Burbank scored the first four points of the second game and led, 5-1, on the strength of four kills by Ragheb. However, the Bulldogs couldn’t maintain the cushion as the Apaches clawed their way back. Arcadia went in front, 13-12, and increased its advantage to 16-13. The Bulldogs responded with a six-point run to take the lead back and go ahead , 19-16, following a combination block by Rickey and Jonathan Valmonte.
The Apaches cut into the lead but the Bulldogs won the game and took a 2-0 lead on an Arcadia service error.
There were a number of lead changes in the third game and Arcadia held a 16-15 advantage on a kill by Bryan Lii (11 kills). Burbank took back the lead, 17-16, on an Apaches attacking error. The Bulldogs increased their lead to 23-19 before Arcadia cut into the advantage and trailed by just one, 24-23. Burbank finally put the Apaches away and sealed the match with a kill from Luca Bily.
“Last year, what happened a lot is that we would win the first two and then we would lose the third set,” Ragheb said. “But I think our players are done with that and we’re moving past that. That’s why we kept it going in that third set, because we didn’t want to let up and maybe let them back in.”
Twitter: @jefftsports
