Aces up for Burlingame Panthers in PAL volleyball opener

The Panthers (1-0 PAL Bay, 2-2 overall) have the luxury of starting Duong in the back row. The senior is a returning All-PAL Bay attacker. And while Burlingame graduated Duong’s left-side counterpart of a year ago, Morgan Toomey, taking over the starting spot is kid sister, sophomore Jordan Toomey.

“[Duong] is a great server and really one of our best defenders,” Burlingame head coach Hannah Korslund said. “So, having her in the back row — Jordan Toomey is really strong in the front row for us too.”

Hillsdale’s back row defended well, holding Duong to a match-high nine kills, while Jordan Toomey totaled eight.

“Defensively they played awesome,” Korslund said. “They were being really smart, reading us really well. I think they adjusted well blocking to us as well, that we weren’t necessarily expecting them to do.”

It was the serve receive that had Hillsdale tied in knots though. Duong wasn’t the only server the Knights had trouble picking up. Burlingame senior setter Jillian Kiniris totaled three match aces, including two in the opening set. Junior libero Sam Hollrah, the lefty, added three match aces, and junior Addie Uhrich rotated in to add two.

“I think it was we just didn’t have that much confidence,” Hillsdale senior defensive specialist Vanessa Vinyard said.

The Lady Knights (0-1, 2-3) did rally back to make a game of it in the opening set, answering Burlingame’s 8-0 run with an 8-2 run of their own to close it to 10-8. Hillsdale senior middle Sophia Marburger kept it close with a block off the left side to make it 14-10. But Toomey and Duong scored back-to-back kills off the left side amid a 5-1 run to push it to 19-11.

Hillsdale couldn’t take advantage of Burlingame’s nine unforced errors in Game 1. The Knights managed just four kills in the set.

Game 2 started much better for Hillsdale. Junior middle blocker Chloe Armstrong made her presence felt, totaling three of her match-high four blocks in the set. The Knights jumped out to a 3-0 lead, and rode their strong back-row defense to duel with Burlingame until the match was tied at 18-18.

“I think for our defense we’ve been playing pretty well,” Vinyard said. “I think it’s just all been about communication, and knowing who gets what on the court.”

Then Duong stepped to the service line and reeled off back-to-back aces to give the Panthers the lead for good. They wouldn’t trail again in the match, jumping out to a fast 8-1 start in Game. 3.

Duong’s highlight-reel play came in the final set, not from the service line, but in hurdling Hollrah, who went flying across the sideline to dig up a ball with an all-out dive. Hollrah couldn’t redirect the ball, and Duong was forced to pursue, hurdling Hollrah and lungeing toward the scoring table to set it back toward the middle for Burlingame to return, with Hillsdale misfiring into the net to give the point to the Panthers.

“I feel like overall defense is really something we’ve been working on, trying to improve on throughout the beginning of the season,” said Hollrah, who is part of an entirely reinvented back row for the Panthers, who graduated three starting defenders. “And I feel like tonight we really tightened it up, and made sure we have a strong connection on and off the court.”

As for being hurdled by Duong, Hollrah said she wasn’t scared — not that much.

“A little bit,” Hollrah said. “I curled up in a ball.”

Not that a hurdling career is in Duong’s future. She has enough to focus on in the spring without entertaining track-and-field dreams, seeing as she’s committed to play NCAA Division I volleyball next season at Campbell University in Blue Creek, North Carolina.

“Maybe not the hurdles,” Korslund said. “I think she’ll be busy in the spring getting ready for college volleyball. But we’ve been encouraging them to hustle and better the ball, and that was I think a testament to what we worked on yesterday in practice, not the hurdling but the bettering the ball.”

In her second year as the Panthers’ head coach, Korslund has yet to coach a varsity match on campus at Burlingame.

With the campus undergoing an extensive overhaul to build a new gymnasium since the start of last season, the Panthers have proven tested and true road warriors. They played all their “home” matches at opponents’ facilities last season, and marched their way to a Central Coast Section Division III championship.

This season, Burlingame will enjoy a steadier “home” schedule, hosting all its PAL Bay Division home matches less than two miles down the road at San Mateo High School.