Noah Duffield records a season-high 20 kills in the win for the Bears 

Fresh off a 4-2 record at the Redondo Tournament the Burroughs Bears came out on top by defeating the St. Francis Golden Knights in four sets(25-18, 24-26, 25-20, 25-19) behind Noah Duffield’s 20 kills. St. Francis entered the contest following a sweeping victory over Eagle Rock on Monday night. 

Both the Bears and Golden Knights began the opening set by trading off points as Skyy Alston and Matthew Polenzani both scored kills for their respective teams to tie the game at one. St Francis went on a 5-0 scoring run and capitalized on the Bear’s mistakes which resulted in Burroughs facing a 7-3 deficit. Duffield, Benji Ly, and Caiden Shrode helped close the gap on St. Francis to stop the Golden Knights’ scoring run. Duffield and Alston both helped the Bears win the opening set 25-18 on back-to-back kills. 

St. Francis got a free point to start set two when the ball was hit out of bounds, but Ryder Tafoya responded with a kill to tie the score at one. While the Golden Knights had control for most of the set, Burroughs gave St. Francis a down-to-the-wire challenge in hopes of going up 2-0 in the series but ultimately the Golden Knights finished off the second set with a 26-24 win to make it an even contest. 

The Bears began the third set by going up 2-0 as the Golden Knights committed a net violation along with Duffield getting a kill. Both teams went neck and neck in the first half of the set before the Bears took control in the back half. Benji Ly ended the third set with a kill to give Burroughs a 25-20 win over St. Francis heading into the fourth set. 

The Bears and Golden Knights entered the fourth set with different questions. Could Burroughs be determined enough to end it or would St. Francis force a do-or-die fifth set. Both teams began the fourth set going back and forth with points until Burroughs found a way to take control of the contest to seal the four-set victory over St. Francis. 

Aside from Duffield’s 20-kill performance Ly also had nine kills, Caide Shrode recorded 35 assists and Nathan Kameya had 12 digs in the victory over the St. Francis Golden Knights. “I liked how the guys responded from not playing well in set two, we looked like a team that didn’t execute in the first two sets but we found a way to make adjustments in sets three and four,” said Joel Brinton. Brinton also said that Benji Ly, and Noah Duffield all played well in the win. 

Burroughs improves to 7-2 and St. Francis drops to 4-5. The Bears will return to the court this week for some Friday Night Volleyball against Newbury Park at 6:00 p.m. and St Francis will play against Crescenta Valley on Tuesday, March 4th also at 6:00 p.m.