Community College men’s volleyball: Breathless

Steve Virgen

COSTA MESA - Orange Coast College’s wake-up call came in the form

of an eventful five-game men’s volleyball match against defending state

champion Los Angeles Pierce Friday night.

The Pirates (13-1, 8-1 in the Orange Empire Conference), who had been

rolling through the competition, ran into a most formidable opponent. And

the undefeated Brahmas displayed the essence of champions after a 17-25,

25-21, 18-25, 25-19, 15-12 interconference victory at Orange Coast.

“We’ve been beating teams without playing good volleyball,” Pirates’

Coach Chuck Cutenese said. “This shows us that we have to work harder

than ever.”

The battle of the unbeatens before some 100 fans, featured topsy-turvy

action, emphatic spiking and a nail-biting climax as it now seems a

rivalry has blossomed.

L.A. Pierce (10-0, 9-0 in the South Coast Conference) ousted the Bucs

from the playoffs last year en route to the state title. OCC earned

minimal revenge with a victory in the Long Beach City Tournament in

February. The tourney format provided a one-game victory to advance and

did not count toward the team’s season records.

Then came Friday night when a heated fifth game assured just as many

dramatic twists as the first four.

The Bucs started that final game down, 4-0, and eventually 10-5, and

that’s when Coast freshman Soren Schneider began a rally, which included

two of his aces, the latter tying the score, 10-10.

After a timeout, the Brahmas earned a sideout and the subsequent point

as the teams traded points down the stretch. B.J. Lightvoet slammed for a

kill, after taking an assist from Nick Ptaschinski, to tie the score at

11.

L.A. Pierce, however, took the next two points and maintained its

advantage when Coast fell behind with errors.

“We now realize it’s not going to be easy,” said Lightvoet, a Costa

Mesa High product, who led the Bucs with 13 kills. “We have to pick it

up. There are other teams out there that are just as good.” Lightvoet has

141 kills overall.

After winning Game 1, 25-17, the Pirates went into a battle with the

Brahmas in Game 2. The second game had five ties and brought even more

life to the rally-point scoring match. Ptaschinski, who finished with a

game-high 45 assists, set up Morgan Jackson, a Corona del Mar High

product, for a spike and point to take an 11-10 lead, forcing Pierce to

call a timeout. OCC then went up, 13-10, before the Brahmas responded and

outscored the Bucs, 10-4, en route to winning the match, 25-21.

“These rally-point games provide unexpected action,” Pierce Coach Greg

Vernovage said. “When you put two good teams on the court this is what’s

going to happen. If we see them again, we’ll be ready and I know they’ll

be ready.”

OCC showed its readiness with a smooth victory in Game 3. The Bucs

began with a 5-1 lead and never looked back. The Brahmas never got closer

than 8-4 as Lightvoet, Schneider, Jackson and Ryan Owens led OCC to the

win. Libero Ed Chun, who finished with 10 digs, came up huge as well.

“In games 1 and 3 we played the volleyball we’re capable of,” Cutenese

said. “We haven’t been challenged like this, so this is good for us. How

well we respond to this is important.”

Said Lightvoet, “I’m not going to spend the whole weekend lamenting

about the loss. I’m going to move on the next match. This was a lot of

fun. Even though we lost, we had a good time.”

The Bucs will continue interconference play when they host El Camino

Wednesday at 7 p.m.