The Glendale High School boys’ volleyball team put up a valiant effort, but visiting Burroughs overcame an inspired Nitros squad, 25-18, 25-20, 19-25 and 25-12 Tuesday afternoon in Pacific League play.
In games 1 and 2, Glendale held leads before Burroughs was able to take control and pull out wins.
“It was a lot of that inconsistent, not very high-level play and then, at the end, ‘All right, let’s go ahead and take care of it,’” Burroughs coach Joel Brinton
said. “I’m not really a fan of playing like that, but it got the job done for those two sets.”
In game 1, Glendale’s Quan Tran started the match with an ace.
Kills by Burroughs’ Andy Zeytounian and Benji Ly quickly gave the visitors the advantage.
It held until a pair of aces by Glendale’s Thaddeus Whiting put his squad ahead.
Soon after, Glendale held a 15-13 advantage before the Bears went on a 9-0 run. Ly started it with a kill from the outside, followed by three consecutive kills from the middle by Gavin Arnold. A Nitros’ two-touch violation was the next point, followed by a kill from the outside by Henry Carlin.
After the hosts fended off one game point, a block at the net by Carlin ended the first game. In the opener Ly had seven of his match-high 16 kills.
In game 2, Glendale had a 19-16 advantage before the Bears embarked on a six-point run to the flip the script. Soon after, an ace by Mark Hopkins set up game point and Jy finished it with a kill on the next point.
Throughout the match, the Bears struggled to put their serves in play. This was especially an issue in the third game won by Glendale, 25-19, when Burroughs had nine serves land out of bounds. In total, 24 points were gifted by the Bears’ inability to put their serves in play.
A kill from the outside by Glendale’s Ergueen Herrera set up game point in the third before the Bears hit into the net to give the hosts the win.
Game 4 was all Burroughs and included a 7-0 run behind the consistent service game of Nathan Kameya, which started with an ace that clipped the tape.
It was the second match in a row between the schools. Last Friday, Burroughs defeated the Nitros, 3 games to 1. The game Glendale took in the first meeting snapped a 38-game winning streak by the Bears. In this the second meeting, the Nitros grabbed another game, giving them two this season, something not achieved over the last 10 years in which Burroughs is undefeated in matches against Glendale.
“Overall, I was pleased with [my team’s] effort and I told them so,” Glendale coach Marji Keyfauver said. “Burroughs has been the top dog … and just to know we are taking sets from them kind of helps us mentally in the future, just knowing we can compete at this level.”
The Nitros were led in kills by Herrera with five, Tran had four, while Middle Vraj Bhagat and Gonzales each had three. Thaddeus Whiting recorded two kills and Alexavier Nuqui had one.
Fifth-place Glendale (13-7 overall, 1-6 in league) will visit Pasadena for a league match on Tuesday, April 18, at 3:30 p.m. before hosting Arcadia on April 20.
First published in the April 15 print issue of the Glendale News-Press.
