Burroughs Boys Volleyball Defeats Burbank in Three Sets

Burroughs boys volleyball beat rival Burbank 25-14, 25-13, 25-22 on Tuesday night, a Pacific League win that got uncomfortable before the Bears finally closed it out.

Sets one and two weren’t competitive. Burroughs took control early in the first, going up 5-1 on a kill from Marco Santiago-Dorn, then stretching to 7-2 on a service ace, also by Santiago-Dorn. A Noah Duffield kill pushed the lead to 13-8, and Burbank never threatened after that. The Bears won set one 25-14, set two 25-13. The Bulldogs didn’t have answers for Burroughs’ attack in either set, and you could see it in how they carried themselves between points.

Then the third set happened.

Burbank showed up differently. The set tied ten separate times. It started 2-2 on a winner from Skyy Alston, then Brandon Chong knotted things at 5-5 with a kill. Alston’s rocket tied it again at 6-6. Jack Szaras delivered a kill to make it 10-10, and a Santiago-Dorn push brought both teams even at 12-12. At that point, neither bench was relaxed.

The Bulldogs went on a 6-2 run and grabbed an 18-14 lead on a Szaras hitting error. That’s when the gym got loud. A Burbank win here would’ve forced a fourth set, and momentum was fully in their corner.

Burroughs didn’t flinch.

The Bears reeled off four straight to tie it 18-18 on a Szaras push, then went ahead 21-19 on a Duffield kill. Chong kept Burbank in it, hitting a bullet to make it 21-21. That’s when Santiago-Dorn stepped up, back-to-back kills that pushed Burroughs to 22-21 and then 23-21. Alston’s push made it 24-22. Duffield’s kill ended it. When it was over, Burroughs had outscored Burbank 11-4 to finish the set, erasing a four-point deficit in what turned into a statement run.

Head coach Joel Brinton didn’t overexplain it. He’s been on Burroughs’ sideline long enough to know what a team looks like when it doesn’t crack. “Our kids stayed calm and trusted the process. We were making some careless errors and got ourselves back on track,” Brinton said. “It was nice to see them calm and confident and not worry about the score.”

That finish matters beyond Tuesday. Burroughs sits at 20-7 overall and 7-1 in Pacific League play. They’re positioned well for a deep CIF Southern Section run, and the way they handled adversity in that third set will count for something when playoff pressure arrives.

The Bears’ attack isn’t simple to scheme against. Duffield, Santiago-Dorn, Alston, and Szaras can each be the one who hurts you on any given play, and Burbank’s staff walked in knowing that. The Bulldogs competed hard in the third set, particularly in serve-receive, and Burbank coach Brandon Villaflor wasn’t dismissive of his team’s effort. He saw something simpler go wrong. “I just think we got caught up in our heads in a couple of mistakes, and just weren’t able to challenge them offensively,” Villaflor told reporters.

Villaflor pointed specifically to the third set’s rhythm problems. “That third set, I thought we did a better job of cleaning up receive and finding better rhythm. I just didn’t think we found a consistent one at that.” That’s an honest read from a coach whose team led by four late in the set and still lost it.

For Burroughs, it’s a win that checks multiple boxes. They handled a must-win situation against a rival. They absorbed a big run, stayed composed, and answered when it mattered. The Bears can find the match coverage from myburbank.com for the full play-by-play breakdown. What won’t show in the box score is how steady they looked down the stretch, and that’s what Brinton was talking about when he said they didn’t worry about the score.