Pirates rout Rustlers with postseason on the horizon
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Golden West (3-17, 1-6) | 10 | 10 | 19 | 0 |
|
Orange Coast (15-3, 7-1) | 25 | 25 | 25 | 3 |
COSTA MESA -- The Orange Coast College men's volleyball team is rounding out to playoff form after wrapping up the regular season with a three-set sweep over rival Golden West on Wednesday night inside the Peterson Gym.
In spite of missing two key starters, the Pirates (15-3, 7-1 in the Orange Empire Conference) took care of business and dispatched the Rustlers, 25-10, 25-10, 25-19, to earn at least a share of the OEC title for the sixth consecutive season. Irvine Valley (15-2, 6-1) will wrap up its regular season against Santiago Canyon on Friday and a win will give the Lasers a share of the conference crown. However, by virtue of tiebreaker rules, the Pirates will earn the top seed out of the conference when the postseason begins next week.
Against the Rustlers (3-17, 1-6), Cole Hauser had a solid night with nine kills (with no errors) on 16 attempts with three block assists, while libero-turned-outside-hitter, Hide Nakamura added five kills, three digs and two block assists. Tyler Vedder anchored the OCC defense with nine digs, while the trio of Landon Seymour, William Rice and Brock Henderson dished out 26 assists.
Coast set the tempo against the Rustlers early in the opening set, jumping out to a 17-3 advantage. Henderson served 11 straight points for OCC and notched two of the Pirates' 10 aces during that stretch.
GWC hung tough with the Pirates early on in the second set and trailed 8-7 before the Pirates pulled away and ended things with another 17-3 run to grab a two-set lead in the match. The OCC middles dominated the end of the second set with six blocks during that final stretch.
The Pirates played the entire squad for the third set and with Golden West staying close at 17-15, Coast picked up a pair of kills from Hauser and single kills from Mitchell Keddie and Noah Pak to pull ahead, 22-16. From there, both teams went back and forth before a Hauser kill ended the match in favor of the Pirates.
Playoff seedings will be announced this weekend. Be sure to log onto www.occpirateathletics.com for the latest playoff information as it becomes available.
