Burbank Boys Volleyball Sweeps Glendale in Pacific League

The Burbank High boys’ volleyball team needed exactly one hour Friday afternoon to remind Glendale why the Bulldogs own this gym.

Burbank swept the visiting Nitros 25-20, 25-15, 25-19 in a Pacific League match that felt decisive from the opening rotation. Defense was sharp, passing was clean, and head coach Brandon Villaflor got contributions from just about everybody on his roster.

“Our goals today was starting off with a better energy, staying disciplined, and remembering our sense of our standards when we’re playing,” Villaflor said. “I thought our match today was awesome. We had all around contributions, which was great to see and seeing how hard our guys work in practice and getting to show it on the court. We were aggressive and had much more serving runs.”

Hard to argue with any of that.

The players who stood out most were senior Jun Angel, junior Michael Becker, and junior Brandon Chong. Chong, in particular, was a problem for Glendale all afternoon, rattling off kills, aces, and pushes at every critical moment.

Set one set the tone fast. Burbank jumped ahead 4-1 on a push from senior Caiden Kai Abarabar, then Becker went back-to-back with kills to push it 7-4. Chong’s rocket made it 8-5, Angel’s service ace extended the lead to 11-5, and Chong’s tapper stretched it to 14-7. Glendale clawed back to 17-13 on a Burbank hitting error, and the Nitros showed some fight. Not enough, though. Chong answered with back-to-back strikes, senior Farkhat Taishev hammered one home for 22-18, and then Chong closed it with a push and an ace to set up set point. Senior Tyler Tran’s laser ended it. Bulldogs one, Nitros zero.

Set two was the cleanest of the three. Glendale got some early traction, with Rein Villarama’s ace knotting things at 2-2 and teammate Nigel Starr’s kill pushing the Nitros ahead 7-3. Then Chong took over. He pulled Burbank within 8-7 with consecutive spikes, and the Bulldogs kept building from there. Taishev’s hit made it 11-9, Chong’s ace ballooned the lead to 15-9, and Angel’s rocket pushed it to 19-12. The set finished 25-15. Comfortable.

The third set was the only one where Glendale made anyone sweat, even briefly. The Nitros jumped out 3-1 on a Becker hitting error. But Becker answered with a kill to tie it at 7-7, junior Finian Cassada dropped a winner to make it 14-10, and then Cassada’s ace pushed it to 16-12. Angel’s push made it 18-12. Becker’s tapper, a nice touch shot, put Burbank ahead 19-15. Senior Noah Lam chipped in an ace for 21-16. Chong’s spike made it 24-17, and Angel’s shove closed the match.

Now for context. Glendale came in at 0-7 overall, 0-6 in league, and hasn’t won a single set all season. Worse, the Nitros had only seven players available Friday. One guy on the bench the entire match. That’s a brutal situation for any program, and it makes it hard to read too much into any opponent’s performance against them.

Burbank sits at 3-9 overall and 1-8 in Pacific League play, so the Bulldogs aren’t exactly running away with the standings. Still, a sweep is a sweep, and Villaflor’s point about energy and standards matters for team culture regardless of the opponent. Pacific League volleyball is a grind, and building good habits now pays off down the stretch.

MyBurbank first reported the match results, including the detailed set-by-set breakdown.

For a Bulldogs squad that has had a tough league run, getting everyone involved and playing with discipline was the real win Friday. Villaflor mentioned serve runs specifically, and you can see why. Aces from Angel, Chong, Lam, and Cassada all showed up in the box score. Serving in volleyball is one of the fastest ways to seize momentum, and Burbank used the weapon well.

The Bulldogs play on. There’s plenty of league schedule left, and a 1-8 Pacific League record means the margin for error is thin. But Friday’s sweep showed Villaflor what this group looks like when the energy is right from the start. That’s something to build on.