Orange Coast College

Women's Volleyball: Pirates regroup, top Chargers in five

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

COSTA MESA -- After a disappointing performance against Fullerton a week ago, the Orange Coast College women's volleyball team showed what its truly capable of with a thrilling five-game victory over visiting Cypress on Wednesday.

Led by 20 kills from freshman middle blocker Briana Fields (pictured right) and a 14-kill, 21-dig performance from freshman outside hitter Rachel Freeno (pictured left), the Pirates found their groove late and defused the Chargers, 13-25, 25-20, 25-20, 20-25, 15-3 to remain in third place in the Orange Empire Conference.

"It's a very Jekyll and Hyde type of team," OCC head coach Chuck Cutenese said. "We have a lot of freshman on this team -- in fact, only our setter (Emily Lyon) really has a ton of experience at this level, so it's taken some time to figure things out. Hopefully this is a match we can build from."

There were plenty of season-highs to go around for the Pirates (15-3, 7-3 in conference). In addition to Fields' 20 kills, Amanda Cheseborough came through with a season-best 22 digs, while Lyon (pictured below) notched her best assist night of the season with 51.

A five-game thriller did not seem to be in the future of either team after Game 1 as Cypress jumped out quickly and never looked back against a slightly-altered Pirate lineup. The Chargers jumped out early and never looked back en route to the 25-13 win.

"We tried to move Briana (Fields) outside to get a bit more swings, but that wasn't working early on, so we moved her back to the middle and looked to Rachel (Freeno) and Jessica (Bodkin) to step up on the outside."

Mission accomplished for the Pirate sluggers. Three kills from Bodkin, combined with seven kills from Fields in the middle, gave OCC a 14-10 lead in Game 2, a lead they would not lose the rest of the game.

After Cypress (10-7, 5-5) got back to within two at 22-20, three straight kills by Bodkin, Fields and Freeno ended the game and evened the match at a game apiece.

Game 3 was another tough, close battle as both teams drew even at 19. Following an OCC timeout, the Pirates used a Freeno kill, a Christina Richards block and a bad passing exchange by the Chargers to take a 22-19 advantage. After a Cypress timeout and point, kills by Karlee Skalla, Fields and a wide Cypress return ended the game and gave OCC a 2-1 lead in the match.

But Chargers' standout OH Briana Kelly took things over in Game 4. The 5-foot-7 freshman played like she was 10-feet tall early on, accounting for five straight points (two kills, three aces) as Cypress jumped out to a 7-2 lead. She added to her performance, totaling eight kills in the game, giving the Chargers the game and evening the match at two games apiece.

With both teams playing to a stalemate though four games the last thing anyone expected was an 11-0 run to start Game 5. But, that's what happened for the Pirates as several errant Charger returns, combined with two kills and a block from Freeno, a kill and a block from Fields and 11 solid serves by Cheseborough (pictured right) gave the hosts a lead too big for the Chargers to overcome.

With the score 12-3, OCC put the match away with kills by Skalla, Fields and Freeno.

OCC returns to action on Friday at first-place Irvine Valley on Friday, beginning at 5 p.m. The Pirates' next home match will be on Nov. 14 at 7 p.m. against Golden West.