Burroughs swept out of CIF semifinals by Valencia
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VALENCIA — Burroughs High’s boys’ volleyball team quickly found out it was in for a tough clash Wednesday in the CIF Southern Section Division II semifinals against host Valencia.
At one point early in the opening game, the Indians had four quality attack opportunities from the outside on the same possession. Despite coming up with four big swings for kill attempts, the Vikings blocked every attempt, leaving the Indians frustrated.
It was that domination at the net that proved problematic for Burroughs all evening and seemed to fuel the Vikings. Valencia used that domination to clinch a 25-19, 25-19, 25-14 sweep against the visiting Indians.
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“With how they block, they forced us to do a lot of things that we don’t normally do,” Burroughs Coach Joel Brinton said. “Their blocking is very disciplined and they did a great job doing what the coaches told them. ...We also didn’t pass very well and that’s where some of chaos came with us. We’re just not used to being blocked like that. And that left us searching for answers on the court.
“To take nothing away from Valencia, they are a good team. We just didn’t play our best. It is just a bad night not to play our best volleyball.”
The Indians had trouble hitting around 6-foot-6 senior outside hitter Kyle Ensing, who is headed to Long Beach State. Ensing (12 kills, six blocks) helped dictate play at the net along with a group of other Vikings.
“Our blocking is one of the cornerstones of our program,” Valencia Coach Kevin Kornegay said. “We scout teams, we have blocking calls that we go with and we try and take away their better players with our blocking. We try to take teams out of their game and I think that worked tonight.”
The Indians’ Andrew Delmada and Max Chamberlain tallied nine kills each.
Burroughs, which captured its sixth straight Pacific League championship, ended its season at 30-4 after advancing to the CIF semifinals for the first time since 2011 and first time ever in Division II.
Valencia (32-6), the winner of 14 of the last 15 Foothill League titles, advanced to the division championship Saturday, where it will attempt to capture the program’s fourth CIF championship in 13 years. The Vikings have yet to surrender a game in the postseason.
“I think ending with a 30-4 record is a great accomplishment,” Chamberlain said. “We were able to accomplish a lot this season and our guys have a lot to be proud of.”
Burroughs had its problems in the first two games, but was able to stay within striking distance late in both frames.
In the opener, Valencia jumped out to a 10-4 lead following a kill by Michael Barrit. The Vikings increased their advantage to eight, 17-9, on a kill by Ensing. But the Indians made up some of the deficit and, following a Valencia attacking error, trailed by just three, 19-16. Burroughs kept the lead at three, 20-17, until Valencia surged and finished on a 5-2 clip to take the opener.
The Indians enjoyed a small lead in the second game, 12-11. However, the Vikings were able to surge ahead and maintained a three-point cushion late in the frame. But once again Valencia held fast down the stretch, outscoring the Indians, 5-2, again to win the game and take a 2-0 lead.
“Their blocking was definitely good and that caused us to not be as aggressive as we normally would be,” Chamberlain said. “We were trying to hit to open spots which was a short and high line, but it was tough.”
In the third game, it was all Valencia, as it jumped out to leads of 7-0 and 12-3 and the Indians were never able to recover.
Ryan Van Loo had 21 assists and two blocks for Burroughs.