Burroughs girls’ volleyball begins week with win

PASADENA — If enough wasn’t already at stake for the Burroughs High girls’ volleyball team heading into Thursday’s city rivalry match versus Burbank, a share of the Pacific League lead may just put the contest over the top.

That’s because the visiting Indians kept themselves in contention for a slice of league ownership after defeating host Pasadena 25-20, 25-16, 19-25, 25-20 in league play Tuesday afternoon.

With the win, defending league champion Burroughs (5-3 overall, 5-1 in league) stays tied with Arcadia (11-7, 5-1) and only a game back of Burbank (9-2, 6-0) as the Indians and Bulldogs will meet at Burroughs at 6 p.m.

As for the hosts, Pasadena fell to 7-4 overall and 2-3 in league heading into its cross-town rivalry match versus Muir (0-5 in league) on Thursday at 3:30 p.m.

“We got off to a good start. I like the energy we came out with,” Burroughs Coach Edwin Real said. “On the down side, we made more mistakes than were used to. Pasadena is always a tough team to play.”

After dropping the first two games, the Bulldogs showed their toughness with a surprising 25-19 victory in which 6-foot-2 middle blocker Bayley Neubauer finished with seven of her match-high 17 kills and three blocks.

Pasadena jumped out to a 4-1 advantage and eventually vaulted to a lead of 10-4 before Burroughs pulled within 15-13.

However, Neubauer connected on back-to-back kills to propel Pasadena ahead by four for the eventual win.

“To be honest, we played down to their level. They’re [among] the league leaders, yes, but we could have beat them,” Neubauer said. “I think we showed that in the third game, but we didn’t focus well before or after that.”

Burroughs didn’t allow Pasadena to rally, though, instead relying on four kills from junior outside hitter Caitlin Cottrell, who finished with a team-best 12 kills.

Burroughs setter Nicole Encarnacion finished with 17 assists for Burroughs.

Burroughs’ victory comes five days after the Indians fell at Arcadia, 3-0.