Burroughs volleyball still has Crescenta Valley’s number
LA CRESCENTA — John Nelson can probably take credit for helping create a monster.
That monster comes in the form of the Burroughs High boys’ volleyball program that has enjoyed a multitude of success under the direction of Joel Brinton, a 1999 Crescenta Valley graduate who played and was then an assistant under Nelson, a longtime Falcons coach.
“I don’t know if I can take that credit,” Nelson said. “But he does do a lot of the things that I do. I have had maybe 10 coaches who have been with me and who have gone on to be head coaches.
“But Joel has done a great job at Burroughs.”
Again Friday evening it was the protege going against his former teacher when Burroughs visited Crescenta Valley in a Pacific League contest.
Although the Indians encountered some rough spots, they were able to sweep the Falcons, 25-22, 25-16, 25-23.
It was the 15th straight victory by Burroughs (10-6, 6-0 in league) over Crescenta Valley (9-4, 3-3), which last defeated the Indians in 2009. In addition, the Indians, who have won eight straight Pacific League titles, extended their league winning streak to 59, having last suffered defeat in 2013.
“We don’t want to get used to not playing our best and figuring out how to win, but it is nice to see us battle when we needed to,” said Brinton, who founded the Burroughs program and is in his 12th year. “We started out a little slow. We had three guys get injured in practice yesterday and that might have had something to do with that. That kind of threw off a lot of things for us. But the good thing is that we were able to get past that and get the win.”
The Indians were led by Cole Kaitz, who had a match-high 16 kills, while Diego Risal added nine kills, Jose Solano contributed 32 assists and Sam Tipton had 14 digs.
“We had some runs of unforced errors and I thought that we gave away too many points on our mistakes,” said Nelson, whose team finished runner-up in league in 2017. “When you play a team that is just as good as you or a little better than you, all of your mistakes are magnified.
“But we are getting better and this is a step in the right direction.”
The teams took turns holding the lead in the first game before Crescenta Valley surged ahead, 9-8, on a kill from Garo Barsemian (team-high 10 kills). The Falcons maintained the advantage before Burroughs went in front, 18-17, following an ace by Michael Rumfola. The Indians increased their lead to 24-18, before the Falcons rattled off four straight points to cut the deficit to 24-22. But Burroughs closed out the game with a kill from Kaitz.
In the second game, the Falcons jumped out to a 5-2 advantage. However, the lead didn’t last long as Burroughs forged ahead, 7-6, on a kill by Jagger Green. The Indians quickly built up a seven-point advantage, 17-10, and weren’t challenged the rest of the way.
“We go into every game knowing that we are the team to beat in league,” Solano said. “And because of that, we know that everyone is going to give us their best game, regardless if it is at home or away. We are aware of it and we have to be ready for it.
“We knew that this was going to go as long as we wanted it to go. So for that third game, we had a gut-check that we can end this right now or play more games.”
The Falcons overcame an early deficit in the third game to go up 17-13 on an ace by Barsemian. But the Indians wouldn’t go away. Burroughs hung around and regained the lead, 23-22, following an ace by Kaitz. Barsemian answered back for Crescenta Valley with a kill to knot the score at 23. But with Barsemian serving, he was called for a rare foot fault to give the Indians back the lead, 24-23. The Falcons then had an attack attempt go into the net to end the match.
Ricky Phagoo and Andrew Boyle had six kills each for Crescenta Valley.
Twitter: @jefftsports
