Welch-led Pirates battle for state volleyball crown

The Orange Coast College men’s volleyball team will go for its sixth state title, its first since 1994, when it faces top-seeded Irvine Valley tonight at 7 in the California Community College state championship match at IVC.

Coach Travis Turner’s Pirates (15-6), who defeated Santa Monica in a four-game semifinal Thursday, will be trying for their first win over IVC in three matches this season. OCC lost, 30-23, 30-19, 30-22, on March 7 at IVC, and 30-24, 30-24, 30-32, 25-30, 15-13, in an April 2 conference home match.

“We’re just going to have to gut out another one,” Turner said after his team’s semifinal win. “But I’ll take these guys any day. We’ve got a gusty group of guys.”

Turner said his group has played a scrappy, ugly brand of volleyball, but they have somehow made it work.

“It may not be the prettiest game you’ll ever see, but it got us to the final, which is all that I care about,” Turner said. “And we’re going to have to win like that, because it’s not going to get any prettier.”

Kevin Welch, a 6-foot-2 sophomore outside hitter, leads OCC. He is the school record holder in kills for a single season (451) and career (766). He had a match-high 27 kills in the semifinal.

Welch, who shared Pacific Coast Conference Player of the Year laurels with Irvine Valley senior outside hitter Peter Johnson, is complimented by first-team all-conference teammates Grant Keene, Mike Stewart and Andrew Pizula.

Pizula, a sophomore libero, had a season-high 16 digs Thursday, when Turner credited his passing as the key to the victory.

Keene, a 6-3 freshman outside hitter, had 14 kills and five block assists against Santa Monica, while Stewart, a 6-6 freshman middle blocker, had 10 kills.

Freshman Corey Ferraro triggers the OCC attack at setter. He had 49 assists Thursday.

OCC is making its 12th appearance in the state final. It won titles in 1994, 1991, 1990, 1989 and 1987. It’s last final was in 2002.

IVC (17-2), coached by former Estancia boys’ head coach and Newport Harbor boys’ and girls’ assistant Tom Pestolesi, the father of UCI freshman women’s sensation Kari Pestolesi, is looking for its second straight state crown.

— Barry Faulkner