Pirates sweep Rustlers out of first place in the PCC

COSTA MESA -- It was a match that had the makings of a classic, but in the end, it was just another dominating performance by the Orange Coast College men's volleyball team as the Pirates rolled past rival Golden West in three sets on Friday night inside the Peterson Gym. 

With the win, which took just over an hour to complete, the Pirates (16-2, 9-1 in Pacific Coast Conference) moved ahead of the Rustlers (14-3, 8-1) atop the conference standings. 

The offense was up and down the Coast lineup as Gianluca Grasso led the way with 11 kills and five digs, while Will Donald knocked down 10 kills and five total blocks. Wyatt Henson added seven kills, Adrian Faitalia contributed six kills and a team-best seven digs and Matthew Ujkicchipped in five kills. 

Jake Adams dished out 20 assists, while Max Gamboa contributed six digs from the libero position.

For the Rustlers, Vinnie Pizzuti led the way with nine kills, but it wasn't nearly enough to overcome the Pirates' all-around game.

"We did a great job tonight staying under control, passing the ball better and distributing our offense," OCC head coach Travis Turner said. "(Gianluca) Grasso was under control over the ball and he was able to really be successful tonight. That was a great effort on our part."

After both teams got things going early in the opening set, OCC took things over in a big way. Leading, 10-8, the Pirates went on a 12-2 run and demolished the Rustlers in the opening set. Donald earned three of his blocks during that span, while Grasso (three kills) and Faitalia (two) anchored the offense.

GWC, which beat the Pirates in a five-set marathon back on March 9 in Huntington Beach, grabbed an early 6-3 lead before Coast answered back with six straight points to regain control of the match. Coast put up three block winners and used an ace by Adams and a kill by Faitalia to take a 9-6 advantage.

Coast extended its lead to 18-12 before a 5-1 GWC run trimmed the lead down to 19-17. 

Back-to-back kills by Henson and a block by Donald pushed the lead back up to 22-17 and forced the Rustlers into a timeout. That break worked as the guests ripped off four straight points after the timeout to trail, 22-21, and forced Turner into a timeout of his own.

From there, Coast used kills from Donald and Ujkic before a wide Rustler return gave Coast the second set and a two-set lead in the match.

Shaken, but not dead, the Rustlers rolled out to a 9-3 lead in the third set, only to see the Pirates use another early 6-0 run to square the set back up at 9. Three service winners by Adams during that outburst helped fuel the comeback.

From there, both teams traded leads before an OCC net violation tied the third set at 20.

A Donald kill and an emphatic Grasso block pushed the Pirates ahead, 22-20, before a wide OCC serve gave a point back to the Rustlers, 22-21. 

Grasso slammed home a winner to make it 23-21 and forced a GWC timeout. From there, both teams traded points until a wide attack by the Rustlers proved to be the match-winner for the Pirates.

Coast will return to action on Wednesday at Miramar College, beginning at 6 p.m. OCC's final regular season home match will take place on Friday, March 15 against Grossmont, also at 6 p.m.