Pirates topple Raiders in four to advance to state title rematch

TORRANCE -- The Orange Coast College men's volleyball team has returned to the biggest of the big dances after the Pirates took care of business on Thursday night with a four-set victory over Moorpark College in the semifinals of the 3C2A Men's Volleyball State Championships, hosted by El Camino College.

The win sets up a state championship rematch on Saturday night with top-seeded Long Beach City College, who swept past San Diego Mesa in Thursday's other semifinals matchup. The Pirates and Vikings will go at it for all the marbles on Saturday at ECC, beginning at 7 p.m.

Sebastian Lara led the Pirates (17-3) with 20 kills and seven digs, while Myles Henderson added 10 kills and three blocks as OCC topped the upset-minded Raiders, 25-15, 25-17, 21-25, 25-16. Brock Henderson dished out 20 assists, while Hide Nakamura anchored the Pirate defense with a team-best 11 digs. Up front, middle blocker Niall Finnegan came through with five total blocks. 

Coast out-slugged the Raiders at the net with 48 kills, compared to MC's 37. OCC also hit an impressive .309 for the night with only 14 hitting errors, compared to Moorpark's 23 errors. 

For the Raiders (13-7), who shocked the MVB world with a three-set sweep over No. 2-seeded Irvine Valley in the state quarterfinals, Ebba Tefera led the way with 11 kills, while Michael Stahl added eight. Merit Ghodrat had a team-best 13 digs, while Garrett Ream dished out 23 assists.

Both teams traded points in the early part of the opening set before Coast created the first "run" of the night, turning a 2-2 tie into an 11-5 advantage, courtesy of a 9-3 outburst. Brock Henderson had a kill and a block during that run, while strong serving from Elgin Liu helped push the Pirates out in front.

From there, the lead only got bigger as Coast opened up a 10-point advantage (22-12) and cruised to victory in the opening set.

It was more of the same in the second set as OCC jumped out to a 12-3 advantage and never lost the lead the rest of the way. Lara came out swinging and ripped three kills during that run, while Liu, Myles Henderson and Finnegan contributed with kills of their own as the Pirate offense showed its depth throughout the night.

Moorpark did its best to try and stay close, getting within four at 19-15, but that would be as close as the Raiders would get as the Pirates opened up a 2-0 set lead with a 25-17 win.

The third set saw the Raiders find their groove a bit as they grabbed a 17-13 advantage. Coast would fight back and get to within a point on a couple of occasions, but the Raiders would have an answer and maintained their lead before a Ream kill gave Moorpark a 25-21 lead and new life in the match.

MC's Jack Mead came out with some strong serves in the opening points of the fourth set, helping the Raiders jump out to a 5-0 lead, forcing the Pirates into an early timeout.

That stoppage proved beneficial to the Pirates, who proceeded to go on a 16-4 run to grab the lead and the momentum away from the Raiders for good. Lara did his thing on offense, while the Raider offense struggled with several hitting errors throughout the fourth set. 

Finally, with match point, OCC's Trent Douphner's kill off a Landon Seymour pass put the match away and pushed the Pirates into the state championship. 

Up next for the Pirates is a state finals rematch with powerhouse Long Beach City College, who knocked out upstart San Diego Mesa, 25-16, 25-12, 25-22 on Thursday night. Following an early five-set loss to Irvine Valley at the John Altobelli Quad on Feb. 4, the Vikings (19-1) have been unstoppable, winning 18 straight matches, including 15 consecutive wins by sweeps. In fact, the last set that was NOT won by LBCC occurred in the opening set against OCC on Feb. 15. From there, the Vikings won three straight in that match and have gone on to win 45 straight sets, heading into Saturday's championship rematch.

Three freshman sluggers lead the way for LBCC, including outside hitters Matthew Pennala (193 kills), Georgi Binev (163 kills) and Cole Oliver (156 kills). Sophomore setter Sean Nguyen is LBCC's main passer with 664 assists, while Julian Zavala tops the Vikings with 153 digs.

Saturday's championship can be watched live by logging on to www.baosn.tv.

It's no real surprise that the Pirates and Vikings return to the big dance. Since 2014, the Pirates and Vikings have captured five of the past seven 3C2A state championships. Last year, the Pirates swept past the Vikings, 25-22, 25-21, 25-22 to capture the team's eighth men's volleyball state championship. A win on Saturday would be the 98th state championship in school history.