Burroughs boys’ volleyball sweeps Santa Monica to begin playoffs
Burbank — Over the years, the Burroughs High boys’ volleyball team has developed a fine track record in CIF Southern Section first-round matches.
The Indians added to a decade-long string Tuesday evening.
Burroughs opened the Division I playoffs with a 25-18, 29-27, 25-12 first-round victory against Santa Monica at home.
It was the 10th straight season the Indians have advanced past the first round of the playoffs.
“We haven’t lost a playoff opener in a very long time,” said Burroughs coach Joel Brinton, whose team has captured nine straight Pacific League championships. “We have been fortunate to have been able to move on and we are hoping to keep that going.
“I just thought the guys played well enough tonight. This team knows that they haven’t played their best yet. We have discussed it in length that we haven’t hit our peak yet. … We will need to play our best if we want to win Thursday.”
Burroughs (19-8) will likely have a tough test in the second round Thursday. The Indians will travel to take on Loyola, the No. 2 seed and Mission League champion. The Cubs (21-2) defeated San Marcos in four games in their playoff opener Tuesday.
Against Santa Monica (15-10-2), which finished second in the Ocean League behind El Segundo, Burroughs was paced by Cole Kaitz, who had 18 kills. Diego Rosal added nine kills, Jose Solano had 28 assists and Sam Tipton contributed 10 digs and three aces.
In the first game, the Vikings took control early, jumping out to a 6-3 advantage. The Indians stayed close, however, and the game was tight for a long stretch, with the teams tying the score seven times.
Burroughs finally surged ahead, 16-15, on a Santa Monica service error, one of 12 in the match for the Vikings. The Indians then went on a 6-0 run that culminated with a kill by Kaitz for a 22-16 lead. The Indians closed out the game on a kill by Azael Estrada.
“We knew that we really weren’t playing our best early on, but with every timeout we came together and we stressed that we really needed to pick it up,” Rosal said. “We just had to be there for each other and I think that helped us get over some of the rough spots.
“We were very excited to start the playoffs and we wanted to get out there and play. There were some jitters, but I think we were able to get over those.”
The second game was a pivotal one for Burroughs, which was able to stave off a game-point to pull out the win. With a 24-23 lead, Santa Monica looked to close out the game and tie the match at 1. But Kaitz came up with a kill to keep the Indians alive. Burroughs then had three game-point opportunities at 25-24, 26-25 and 27-26, but couldn’t put it away. Finally at 28-27, another kill by Kaitz gave the game to Burroughs.
Burroughs took control of the third game at 7-6 on a kill by Rosal and increased the advantage to six, 14-8, on another kill by Rosal. The Indians closed out the stanza by winning the final six points to complete the sweep.
On Thursday, Burroughs will be looking to get out of the first round for the first time since moving up to Division I last season. In 2017, the Indians were swept in the second round by Huntington Beach. In 2016, they won the Southern California Division II Regional.
“Hopefully we can play our best game of the year against Loyola,” Brinton said.
Twitter: @jefftsports
