Burlingame falls in 5 in Nor Cal volleyball opener

The thing is, Burlingame (19-15) had already mourned the end of its season last Thursday after an elimination loss in the Central Coast Section Division II semifinals, before getting a reprieve with a surprise text message Sunday saying the team had received an at-large bid to Nor Cals.

“There was a lot of emotions last Thursday,” Burlingame senior Addie Uhrich said. “But hearing that was honestly the best highlight of our day, getting back to practice, like we have another chance to fight. So, we were all just excited to have another chance at it.”

It was Burlingame’s second turn through Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division play that punched the team’s ticket to the Nor Cal tournament. Head coach Hannah Korslund’s squad went 6-1 through the second half of its league slate, with the only loss coming on a day the Panthers were without two starters.

“Thursday night we thought it was over,” Korslund said. “The girls, I would say, kind of mourned their season on Thursday night. And then on Friday, I said: ‘I think we have a shot.’ And then Sunday we knew for sure.”

Along with the prestige of merely qualifying for Nor Cals, for the Panthers to receive a home game meant another historic first. With Burlingame opening its new state-of-the-art gymnasium at the start of the school year, the volleyball program played the first official games for any sport in the facility Oct.7, and then hosted the first playoff game there for any sport at the Nov. 4 CCS opener.

Tuesday marked the first CIF Nor Cal event for any sport in the new gym.

“I think it’s really cool, first season with a new gym, getting to host both a CCS game and a Nor Cal game,” Korslund said. “We get to be the first ones and the only ones that are first to do that. So, I think that’s really cool. I think that opportunity wasn’t lost on all of them.”

The Panthers sure played like a team that belongs in the history books Tuesday, not only riding a four-pronged attack to a Game 1 win, but not making a hitting error until late in the second set.

“We talked a lot about focusing on the first contact, and I think playing clean on the first contact was giving us a lot of chances on the third to not make many errors,” Korslund said. “So, I think that’s what helped us probably the most there.”

Sophomore outside hitter Ilsa Carlson scored a team-high 19 kills, while junior outside hitter Jordan Toomey and senior middle Ava Scatena scored 11 apiece.

But the Lowell defense was up to the challenge, opening Game 2 by interrupting the Panthers’ flow, then steadily but surely disallowing any clean attacks as the night wore on.

“I don’t know what their coach said in between those sets, but they really just switched it on,” Korslund said. “It felt like nothing would drop. We had great swings, great rallies ... and it felt like everywhere we were swinging, they were reading us.”

Then the Cardinals’ two lethal attackers worked to keep Burlingame scrambling on defense. Senior opposite hitter Soleil Wang scored a match-high 22 kills, and was not only running effective attacking lines from both pins, but was doing it as a left-handed hitter.

“I think it really challenged all of us back row,” Burlingame senior defensive specialist Sophia Guzman said. “I know coming into this game, we knew that they were really scrappy and all good hitters. But there was a lefty. When a lefty is there, they have an advantage. ... I think the defense tonight was really challenged, but I think that we endured it and we did a really good job picking everything up.”

Guzman played a marvelous game, as did Burlingame sophomore libero Kaitlyn Nyhus, going toward prolonged rallies throughout the match.

But not only did Lowell overcome a Game 1 loss, in the race-to-15 decisive Game 5, Burlingame jumped out to an early 7-3 lead when the Cardinals backed off a Uhrich serve that caught the sideline.

“When I hit that serve, I was honestly so shocked ... because the adrenaline was crazy,” Uhrich said.

The Panthers pushed the lead to 8-4 when Scatena scored a kill through the middle. But Lowell responded with a 6-1 run, with Burlingame making a rare hitting error by misfiring into the net to swing the Cardinals ahead 10-9.

It was the second of four lead changes in the set, with Burlingame swinging ahead 11-10 when junior middle Ruby Gemmer went back-to-back, first by spiking an overpass for a kill, then by scoring a block through the middle. Then it was Lowell’s turn, with junior outside hitter Mikayla Liu ripping a cross off the left side for one of her 15 kills, when Wang tooling a block off the right side to make it 12-11 Cardinals.

Gemmer answered with a crisp kill through the middle to tie it 12-all. But it would be the last point for Burlingame of the season, as Lowell finished on a 3-0 run, taking the lead on a Liu rocket off the right side, then winning it on back-to-back kills from Wang.

“I’m feeling bittersweet,” Guzman said. “I think that this season was a really big highlight to my career. The emotions were flowing in when we played Monta Vista on Thursday, because that’s when I thought it was really over, and then we made it to Nor Cals.”

With the win, Lowell advances to Thursday’s Nor Cal quarterfinals, traveling to No. 13 Los Gatos. Also in the Division III bracket, No. 8 Bullard-Fresno will travel to No. 1 Sequoia. Sequoia had a first-round bye and did not play Tuesday.

Division I

Campolindo 3, Sacred Heart Prep 2

The No. 11-seed Gators (22-8) saw their season end with a five-set thriller 23-25, 23-25, 25-14, 25-14, 15-12 at No. 6 Campolindo-Moraga (27-8). Campo advances to play Thursday at No. 3 Buchanan-Clovis.

Division II

Cardinal Newman 3, Menlo-Atherton 1

No. 7 Menlo-Atherton (24-11) saw its season end with a 20-25, 25-16, 25-20, 25-15 loss at No. 10 Cardinal Newman-Santa Rosa (21-11). Cardinal Newman advances to play Thursday at No. 2 St. Francis-Sacramento.

Division IV

University Prep 3, Summit Shasta 1

The No. 7 Black Bears (26-9) ended their season at home, falling 3-1 to No. 10 University Prep-Redding (30-8). University Prep advances to play Thursday at No. 2 Bear River-Grass Valley.