OCC opens up conference with win

When it comes to Golden West College's men's volleyball team, they're not your standard run-of-the-mill team, as a matter of fact they're the reigning champs.

"Golden West is a very physical team and they work hard together. They're not the reigning champs for nothing," OCC's head coach Travis Turner said.

Reigning champs or not, the Orange Coast College men's volleyball team (8-0 overall, 1-0 in conference) opened up conference play winning in five sets 25-27, 25-20, 21-25, 25-17, 16-14 Wednesday on the road against rival Golden West College (5-4 overall 1-1 in conference).

"It was great to beat Golden West when we didn't play our best," Turner said "Golden West made more mistakes in the end."

Golden West did not have star outside hitter Matt Hilling, who is out the entire year with a shoulder injury.

After dropping the first set to Golden West, Coast managed to take set two 25-20 leveling the set score at 1-1.

"The thing that worked for us was our confidence in this game. Even when things were tough, we just needed to tell ourselves 'we're OCC and we play better than this'," middle blocker Nick Amado, 19, a history major said.

In the third set, OCC never led and it cost them dearly, as Golden West would win set three 21-25, putting OCC on its heels.

"I thought they (Golden West) played a good game," Turner said about Golden West. "What we need to work on is passing and serving. That's the theme of this year."

The fourth set was much different, as OCC took full charge and was able to take set four 25-17, forcing a decisive fifth set.

"When things got tight, we stuck to our confidence that our coaches gave us and we were able to prevail," co-captain Ty Hutchins, 20, a history major who is bound for Brigham Young University said.

Hutchins led OCC with 29 kills, while Kevin Gorence led Golden West with 18 kills.

In the fifth set, Golden West would jump out to a 9-6 lead, forcing Turner to take a time out. The Pirates would eventually even the score at 13, but then Golden West went up 14-13 and eventually had match point.

That would be the last point Golden West would score in that set.

OCC would register a pair of kills to go up 15-14 and would have match point themselves, forcing Golden West to take a time out.

After a long rally, Brandon Dau of OCC would come up with a big block at the net, which gave OCC set five and the match.

"This game wasn't the most intense volleyball match I've ever played in, but it was the most fun I've played in," Hutchins said.

OCC, which has won eight straight games, will be at home for the next two games, starting tonight against San Diego City and Friday against Palomar both at 6:00 p.m.

"If we want to beat San Diego City and Palomar we're going to have to pass well, play our game, and have less hitting errors," Amado said.