Tournament silver suits Burbank girls’ volleyball
BURBANK — Though the Bellarmine-Jefferson High, Flintridge Prep and Holy Family girls’ volleyball teams each enjoyed positives at Saturday’s Burbank High Volleyball Tournament, no one stood taller locally than the host Bulldogs.
Burbank picked up some hardware on its home court, as the Bulldogs captured the silver division tournament championship by defeating Arleta, 25-18, in the title tilt.
“It feels pretty good winning the silver division,” Burbank Coach Karl Rojo said. “It’s not gold, but it’s still some sort of silverware.”
Burbank was one of four area squads to take part in the 18-team tournament, which was broken into gold, silver and bronze division brackets. Quartz Hill won the elite division gold championship by defeating West Ranch, 25-10, while Holy Family bested Muir 25-18, for the bronze title.
Burbank struggled in its group A pool play, tying for third with Paraclete with a 3-5 record and was ranked 10th overall, just outside the top eight spots slotted for the gold division bracket playoffs.
In the silver division, the Bulldogs opened with a 25-15 victory over St. Genevieve that sent them into the semifinals versus Flintridge Prep.
The Bulldogs raced to an 8-0 lead, withstood a Rebels’ charge midway through the set and defeated Flintridge Prep, 25-12, behind four kills from senior outside hitter Hailey Heath and two kills each from Elizabeth Kvryan, Arpi Garibyan and Colette Reynolds.
As for the championship match, Garibyan tallied a game-high six kills in the 25-18 victory over Arleta. In the set, the Bulldogs showed their mastery of the serve, converting six aces, with two apiece from Hannah Porter and Kvryan.
“We’ve been working really hard and working a lot since summer league and it means a lot to win this title,” Heath said. “This tournament, along with our summer league tournaments, have given us a great opportunity to get some reps. Though it wasn’t a gold division championship, it’s still a championship. Silver is great, too.”
Like Burbank, Flintridge Prep finished 3-5 in pool play in group B and missed the cut for the gold division. The Rebels were ranked 11th overall and faced Van Nuys in the first round of the silver division playoffs.
After falling behind Van Nuys, 6-4, the Rebels rallied via a 14-4 run to go up by eight and never looked back en route to a 25-17 triumph.
Sophomore opposite Courtney Johnson and freshman outside hitter Ellen Chang led the way for the Rebels as both players tallied four kills and two aces in the set.
The victory vaulted Flintridge Prep into the silver semifinals versus Burbank. An early 8-0 deficit proved insurmountable as the closest the Rebels came was at 15-8 following a 4-0 spurt capped on a kill from Johnson. Burbank eventually won, 25-12.
“This was all about gaining experience for the kids and I’m proud of them,” said Flintridge Prep Coach Sean Beattie, whose team pushed champion Quartz Hill before losing in pool play. “We had our setter get hurt, so we had a freshman who’s never set before set the last two games for us, so that was interesting.
“It’s about the experience of playing in different situations and different positions and understanding what you have to do when someone goes down is key.”
Burbank wasn’t the only area team to win a championship.
Though Holy Family suffered a tough overall day, the Gaels received a treat at the end by defeating Muir, 25-18, for the bronze division title.
“I think the girls surprised themselves with the way they played today,” Holy Family Coach Robert Bringas Jr. said. “Sure, they had losses, but they played against all upper-division teams and they really learned and improved. I just wanted them to be competitive and they were.”
Holy Family finished 0-8 in group A pool play action and did not qualify for either the eight-team gold division or eight-team silver division playoffs, leaving the Gaels to face 0-6 Muir in the bronze division championship.
Whatever frustrations may have existed earlier were wiped away after Holy Family won the title.
“All we played was schools much bigger than ours,” Gaels junior right side Melanie Ibarra said. “We just played together, tried to do the best we could, play catch-up when we could and we won the last one, which was a championship.”
Senior libero Mikayla DePeralta led the Gaels with 48 digs throughout the tournament, while Meghann Velazquez tallied 45 digs.
Learning was also key for Bell-Jeff.
The Guards finished 1-5 in group C, were seeded No. 15 and advanced to the silver division first round versus No. 9 Immaculate Heart. Unfortunately for Bell-Jeff, Immaculate Heart scored 14 of the set’s first 16 points and rolled to a 25-9 win.
“This was a huge learning experience for my team because they got to see high-level volleyball, which they don’t really get to see in their gym,” Guards Coach Cindy Ortiz said. “So, this was an eye-opening experience. The girls got to see what it takes to compete at that level.”
