BURBANK — The Burroughs boys volleyball team lost to visiting Yorba Linda, 20-25, 25-20, 17-25, 25-18, 15-12, on Tuesday in the first round of the CIF-SS Division 2 playoffs.
Burroughs (22-8) led 9-6 and 12-10 in the fifth set, but Yorba Linda kept chipping away with scrappy play and some strong blocking.
A pair of hitting errors by the Bears gave Yorba Linda a late lead, and an ace from Robert Bollin and a kill from Evan Waddell sealed the win.
“When we served well and their middles weren’t able to do anything or get involved, points usually went our way,” Bears coach Joel Brinton said. “But too often they were able to find a way, and their scrappiness on defense really made us repeatable.”
Yorba Linda’s athletic middles weren’t a huge factor in the match early on, but they ramped up the intensity in each set.
The Mustangs (24-6) were led by middle Evan Waddell with 16 kills and a match-high four blocks. Waddell had four kills in the fourth set and six in the fifth set.
The Bears were led by junior outside hitter Noah Duffield, who had 24 kills. The Stanford commit’s big jump and swing rose above the Yorba Linda block in the early going, especially in set one where Duffield added seven kills.
However, the Mustangs adjusted and focused in on the 6-6 outside and reduced the damage.
“We saw them on film, and then we knew they were good, but they were really good,” Brinton said of Yorba Linda. “I think they deserve a lot of credit. Their passing got better as the match went on.”
Burroughs took the first and third sets but couldn’t hold off Yorba in the following sets.
Burroughs saw some great serving from Greg Guzman and Skyy Alston. Guzman went on a few serving runs that gave the Mustangs’ serve receive issues while Alston’s jump float proved too tricky at times, highlighted by back-to-back aces in the third set.
Alston also added eight kills while opposite hitter Marco Santiago-Dorn chipped in 10 kills, all coming in the second and third sets.
All five sets were tight in the early going aside from the third where Burroughs rode a 9-1 run to power ahead early.
The match was Burrough’s third straight playoff opener to go to five sets.
Brinton was proud of his group’s accomplishments this season. The Bears won the last Pacific League title before the league morphs with other Pasadena and Glendale area leagues. The team on 22 matches despite losing a large number of players from last season’s due to graduation.
This year’s senior class rose to the challenge, Brinton said.
“I know it’s cliche, but we’re obviously gonna miss the seniors with all the time they’ve spent here,” Brinton said. “We’’re proud of the group. We accomplished the goal of winning the last Pacific League championship. That’s a cool thing to do.
“Making it to Division 2 right and being one of the top however, many teams are. That’s a cool accomplishment and it says a lot about the group. So obviously, it was a successful year. We’re just obviously bummed we don’t get to practice tomorrow.”