Long Beach City continues to make itself at home atop coaches poll

IRVINE, Calif - Long Beach City ran away with the voting again to sit at the top of the 2018 California Community College Men’s Volleyball Coaches Association State Poll.

The Vikings, who have a record of 15-0 and won their first two matches in the Western State Conference South Division last week, have been No. 1 for all nine weeks.

LBCC defeated Santa Monica, 25-15, 22-25, 25-20, 25-22, in its lone match last week.

It was just the fourth set that the Vikings have given up all season. Steven Rotter led the way with 12 kills and four blocks, Andrew Pearson added nine kills and five blocks and Victor Villarreal had six kills and seven blocks in the win. Long Beach City had one solo blocks and 24 block assists on the night.

Orange Coast (14-2, 4-0) stayed put at No. 2 in the rankings after winning its eighth and ninth matches in a row last week. And the Pirates got those wins last week over a couple of top squads to take control of the Orange Empire Conference. OCC battled back from two sets down to beat Fullerton, 22-25, 22-25, 25-22, 27-25, 19-17, at Fullerton on Wednesday. The Pirates got a big 27 kills and 11 digs from Kyle McCauley, 19 kills from Wyatt Henson and 58 assists from Colby Elder in the comeback victory. And then on Friday at home, Orange Coast held off Irvine Valley, 26-24, 25-18, 26-24. The Pirates rallied back from deficits in the first and third sets for the win. 

Irvine Valley split its matches last week to see its record go to 11-3 overall and 2-1 in conference. The Lasers defeated Golden West, 25-10, 22-25, 25-17, 25-23, at home on Wednesday before losing at Orange Coast on Friday. At Golden West, Trent Williams had 14 kills, Patrick Furlong added 13 kills and Austin McBain had 46 assists in the win. 

El Camino held on to its fourth-place poll ranking after winning two matches last week. The Warriors have now captured six victories in a row. They swept Santiago Canyon and LA Trade Tech last week. The Warriors got eight kills, four digs and one block from Benjamin Crocker while Max Perez added seven kills, three digs and two blocks against Trade Tech. El Camino is undefeated in Western State Conference South Division Conference play and plays host to No. 1 Long Beach City in the match of the week this Friday at 6 p.m.

Santa Barbara City went from tied at the four spot down to fifth this week after losing to LA Pierce (23-25, 25-21, 25-22, 25-21) at home last Friday. Pierce jumped up two spots in the poll after the victory at SBCC. Cole Chea had 15 kills, Maximilian Petuhov added 14 digs and Bernardo Reese ended with 38 assists for the Brahmas in the win.

Fullerton, Santa Monica, Moorpark and Miramar, round out the top 10 this week.

(Brent Shaver, Irvine Valley)