Orange Coast College

Women's Volleyball: Pirates finish fourth at State Championships

Monday, December 08, 2008

PASADENA -- A successful season came to a painful end on Saturday as the Orange Coast College women's volleyball team lost in five games to eventual state champion El Camino at the CCCAA Women's Volleyball State Championships, held at Pasadena City College.

It was a long day of volleyball for the Pirates (22-6). Following a five-game victory over Sacramento City College (15-25, 25-23, 26-24, 18-25, 25-10), Coast returned to the PCC gym that night to take on the Warriors. OCC had its chances to advance, but the Warriors rallied for a 21-25, 25-23, 28-30, 25-22, 15-12 win. From there, El Camino topped Fresno City and Santa Rosa on Sunday to win the championship for the second straight year.

"We had our opportunities to close the match out and we just didn't get it done," OCC head coach Chuck Cutenese said. "For us to win, we knew we needed to be strong in passing, playing the serves and block control and we just couldn't sustain it all the way through.

"I was hoping that once we got past L.A. Pierce that we'd play with more confidence on a consistent basis, but we never got there. We showed moments of brilliance from time to time and for us to get this far was a huge accomplishment."

After opening the Sacramento City match with a quick 25-15 loss, OCC grabbed the momentum back in Game 2, jumping out to an early lead and holding on down the stretch. Freshman outside hitter Rachel Freeno, who finished with a team-best 17 kills, helped Coast with some key kills in the final points. Finally, with Coast leading 24-23, a strong serve by all-tournament selection Briana Fields enabled the Pirates to even the match at a game apiece.

Sac City came out on fire early in Game 3 as Michelle Johnson (21 kills, 11 digs, seven blocks) took the game over with three blocks and two kills over a 13-point stretch, putting OCC in a 13-3 hole.

But the Pirates managed to chip away the deficit, behind the strong play of Freeno and Fields, using a 13-6 run to get to within three at 19-16.

Both teams began trading points, leaving OCC behind 24-21. Facing three game points, the Pirates responded with three in a row, thanks to a double-hit violation by Sac City, a block by Emily Lyon and Alex Mainini and a poor return by the Panthers.

With the game tied a 24, another errant return by Sac City gave the Pirates the lead and Mainini followed that up with a key block, giving the Pirates the game and the lead in the match.

Game 4 was tied at 17 before the Panthers (25-7) closed things out with an 8-1 run to even the match at two games apiece.

In the fifth game, OCC trailed 6-5 before a pair of kills from Jessica Bodkin, kills from Christina Richards and Freeno and a Fields ace highlighted a 7-1 run, giving Coast the lead for good.

Sac City got as close as 13-10 before a net violation by the Panthers and Freeno's 17th kill ended the nearly two-hour match.

Following a three-hour break, the Pirates were back on the court, taking on El Camino. The opening game was a game of streaks as the Warriors jumped out to a 7-1 lead, forcing OCC to call timeout and regroup.

Regroup they did, as the Pirates responded with a 10-3 run to take an 11-10 advantage. Coast held a 17-14 lead before the Warriors ripped off five straight points to lead 19-17.

OCC answered back with five straight points of its own and closed the game out with a 7-2 outburst to win, 25-21.

Game 2 was a bit more conventional as both teams traded points back and forth. Coast held a 19-17 advantage before ECC went on a 5-0 run for a 22-19 lead.

OCC managed to even the game at 23 before back-to-back kills by the Warriors capped the game off and evened the match at a game apiece.

There was plenty of controversy for both teams in Game 3. OCC trailed 13-12 when an El Camino point was supposed to have made it 14-12, but the point was not displayed by the scoreboard operator or official scorers and play continued with the same 13-12 score.

The Pirates scored on the next play and instead of a 14-13 Warriors lead, it was tied at 13-13. Play was stopped and after further discussion, the score was changed to give OCC the lead at 14-13 instead of the other way around.

That two-point swing would prove huge down the stretch, considering the game ended with OCC winning, 30-28. The Pirates fought off five different game points down the stretch, all of which would have given the Warriors the game if the score had been correct. Trailing 28-27, a block by Fields and Karlee Skalla was followed up by a big kill from Bodkin and a long return by El Camino, giving OCC the controversial win.

Much like Game 2, OCC had the lead late in the game, but the Warriors showed why they were the defending state champions by picking up big points down the stretch. Trailing 18-7, ECC went on a 7-2 run to take a commanding 24-20 lead. OCC got a couple of points back, but the Warriors closed the match out on the next serve to tie the match up at two games apiece.

Playing their 10th game of the day, Orange Coast hung tough and overcame a 9-6 deficit to tie the game at 10, thanks in large part to the strong play of Skalla, who had her strongest match of the season with 16 kills and a team-best 18 digs.

The Warriors would not be denied however, as two kills by Kara Lei Cummings (17 kills) and a kill from Amrita Tuladhar (team-best 20 kills) capped off a 5-2 run, ending the Pirates' season.

Fields led the Pirates with 18 kills, while Bodkin added 15 and Freeno chipped in 10. Emily Lyon finished with 61 assists. Lyon capped off her brillant career with 1,746 assists, the most in OCC history.