First published in the Oct. 23 print issue of the Burbank Leader.
After a first-place finish in the Pacific League with a perfect 13-0 league record, Burroughs High School’s varsity girls’ volleyball team was upset by visiting Mission Viejo, 25-23, 25-23, 25-17 in a CIF-SS Division 3 first-round playoff match on Thursday evening.
“We had a good season and unfortunately, the seeding that we got was pretty rough for going undefeated, having a 17-4 [overall] record and then playing a No. 9 team that’s good,” said Edwin Real, Burroughs’ head coach.
Heidi Collins ended her high school career with a team-high 10 kills, seven digs, three aces and one assist.
The first set was a head-to-head battle as the first 11 points resulted in either a tie or a lead change, with a kill by Bears junior Kara Aldana-Pere’s yielding a 6-5 lead.
Burroughs pulled ahead 20-12 behind by Tawnie Ohrt’s three kills and one ace and teammate Bella Lomet added two straight aces before Mission Viejo tied the match at 22 apiece. Ohrt tied it 23-23, but two consecutive Mission Viejo kills ended the first set with a Bears loss, 25-23.
While the second set ended with an identical score as the previous one, Collins led Burroughs’ offense with a set-high six kills.
Janessa Wareebor’s kill and Collins’ ace began what could have been a comeback late in the set, but Mission Viejo squashed the momentum and won 25-23, forging a two-set advantage.
In the third set, Mission Viejo scored seven consecutive times for an 11-7 lead and never looked back.
“Our one-two punch was Bella [Lomet] in the middle with our setter, Meghan [Lynch]. They couldn’t stop her; we just didn’t get her the ball enough,” Real said. “We got her the ball a lot, but just not quite enough.”
Lynch tallied a team-leading 25 assists, nine digs and two kills, while Lomet recorded seven kills and two digs.
Wareebor recorded four kills, six digs, one assist and one ace, while Ohrt had six kills and one ace. Aldana-Pere finished with two kills, and Charlotte Hobson recorded eight digs.
