Bulldogs go 3-2 overall in the two day tournament 

The Burbank Bulldogs finished with a seventh place showing in their annual varsity tournament, going 3-2 during the two-day span. They started day one with a bang, taking a 5 set thriller over Brentwood 3-2 (25-14, 20-25, 13-25, 25-18, 15-11) followed by a sweeping victory over Lakeview. The Bulldogs entered the tournament off a 3-set loss to Marlborough back on Tuesday August 13th, while Brentwood also got swept at the hands of Culver City back on Wednesday August 14th. 

In the opening set of the Burbank Brentwood contest, senior Arpa Khechadorian of Burbank recorded 3 straight aces and helped the Bulldogs go on a 6-1 scoring run following the game’s first kill by freshman Peyton Juha of Brentwood. Narneh Pogosyan provided more scoring for the Bulldogs by recording a kill to make the score 7-4 before scoring an ace to push the score to 9-4. Both teams traded points until. Grace O’Connor recorded back to back kills and an ace to keep the momentum in favor of Burbank. Rising sophomore Maddi Yosh of the Bulldogs recorded 5 straight aces to help pull away from the Eagles and the Bulldogs came out victorious 25-14. 

While Burbank took the first set the Brentwood Eagles came out victorious in the second set by the final of 25-20. Chloe Chen of Brentwood recorded the match sealing ace to tie up the series. Allie Foenander recorded back to back aces and helped contribute to back and forth early scoring in the set by both the Bulldogs and Eagles. Brentwood continued its hot play in set three where Sheridan Weiss scored 3 straight aces and was joined by Cici Gordon’s 6 straight aces to help the Eagles propel to a 25-13 win to take a two sets to one lead. 

The Bulldogs had their backs against the wall heading into a potentially decisive fourth set and found a way to get the momentum back to force a do or die final set. Brentwood committed too many errors and couldn’t find a way to seal it, sending the contest to a fifth and deciding set. Grace O Connor, Arpa Khechadorian, Nareh Pogosyan and Bee Barona  helped the Bulldogs to a 15-11 victory to win the series over Brentwood, while Barona recorded the game winning kill to seal the win for the Bulldogs. 

To conclude the opening day of the tournament. The Bulldogs took on the reigning CIF City Section Division 5 champion Lakeview Charter Lions and handed them the sweep. Nareh  Pogosyan got the scoring started for the Bulldogs with the game’s 1st kill. Grace O’Connor also contributed to the opening 6-1 run with a kill. She later added an ace to make the score 11-5. Lakeview’s Evelyn recorded 3 straight aces and Pogosyan got a kill to get the score to 22-11, but Burbank handily defeated Lakewood 25-14 in the opening set. The Bulldogs completed the sweep over the Lions by taking the next two sets 25-19 and 25-7 respectively. 

“I didn’t think we’d beat Brentwood in 5. They beat us last year in our tournament but (we) need to work on playing more consistently.” said Bulldogs assistant varsity coach Choy Jimmenez. Jimenez also stated that the backups in the game against Lakeview took advantage of the opportunity to help the Dogs sweep Lakewood. 

Fresh off wins over Brentwood and Lakeview on day one, the Bulldogs came out on top with a 3-set victory over Westridge (25-27, 25-18, 15-18) before getting swept by Saugus in the final game of pool play. Burbank was given the broom and a first round exit in the tournament playoffs, getting swept by San Dimas. 

To get day two started, Burbank kicked off the first of their final two contests of pool play with the Westridge Tigers. Lilly Johnson contributed to the Tigers’ 5-0 scoring run with back to back aces while Nareh Pogosyan stopped the scoring run with a kill to get the Bulldogs on the board in the opening set. Isabel De Leon of Westridge halted the Bulldogs momentum of a scoring run following Pogosyan’s kill. Arpa Khechadoorian continued her MVP-like performance in the tournament by recording multiple aces on back to back days to help cut the Westridge lead to 3. The Tigers took the first set by the final of 27-25. The Bulldogs never wavered in pressure moments and found a way to come back in a short series by taking the second set by a final of 25-18 when their backs were against the wall in a best of 3 set. Khechadoorian helped contribute to the Bulldogs 10-3 run by recording 2 aces in the second set. The Bulldogs propel to a set 2 win by the final of 25-18 to force a decisive third set. 

Grace O’Connor and Nareh Pogosyan got back to back kills to start set three while a side out error was committed by Westridge to make it a 3-0 scoring run to begin the final set. O’Connor ended up with 2 kills in the final set and an ace to help the Bulldogs defeat the Tigers in 3 sets. 

The Bulldogs looked to continue their undefeated streak against a Saugus team that was off to a 7-0 start. In the opening set, Valerie Mejia contributed to the 4-0 run while Leila Ballard recorded a kill to make it a 5-1 game. Chloe Davis recorded the game winning kill to seal the Centurions dominant 25-5 win over the Bulldogs. Saugus continued their momentum in set 2 to complete the 2 game sweep over the Burbank by the final of 25-12 Leah Taylor had 2 kills in the final set while Mejia recorded 2 aces for the Centurions. Arpa Khechadoorian had 3 aces in the final set for the Bulldogs while Lelia Ballard recorded the match-ending ace for Saugus. 

Saugus went on to be the #1 seed of the playoffs, and followed that by getting past Flintridge Sacred Heart and San Dimas to take home the tournament championship. 

Following their rough loss to Saugus, the Bulldogs were looking for answers against San Dimas but never found a way to get past them in the opening round in the playoffs. 

Natalie Starkey started the scoring for Saints with the game’s first kill in the opening set. The Bulldogs never gave up throughout the opening set since at one point they were down 18-13 and overcame that by impressive kills by Bee Barona and Grace O Connor to help tie the game twice at 18 and 19. San Dimas took the opening set by two points. 

The Bulldogs were facing elimination in the 2nd set and were looking to be the comeback kids again. Burbank once led 18-14 over San Dimas until the Saints found a way back into the game and eventually took the second set 25-20 to complete the sweep. San Dimas got through Westridge to play in the championship game against Saugus, but saw themselves swept by the Tigers to place 2nd in the tournament. 

“I thought they did a great job by pushing through and was proud of the way they played in the 2 day varsity tournament.” said Bulldogs Head Coach Morgan Bolger. Bolger admitted that sometimes opponents are better in the games when asked about if the Bulldogs played tired against San Dimas and Saugus. 

The Bulldogs will have two games this week. They will travel to Flintridge Sacred Heart on Tuesday night at 6:00 p.m. and will have their official home opener on Thursday August 22nd, against Alhambra at 3:45 p.m.