Orange Coast College

Women's Volleyball -- 2009: Truly a season to remember!

Tuesday, December 08, 2009

COSTA MESA -- In a season that pushed the limit of just about everyone involved with the program, the Orange Coast College women's volleyball team made it all worth while when it counted most, winning the 2009 California Community College Athletic Association State Women's Volleyball Championship.

"I told the girls -- and I'm not going to lie to them -- that this was a high-maintenance team, but through it all, they came together at the right time and played their best volleyball when their backs were against the wall," OCC head coach Chuck Cutenese said. "This wasn't a team that rolled through the competition all the time. We had seven matches that went five games and in those, we went 6-1 so that shows me that it's a team that won't always make it easy on themselves, but they found ways to win when it counted most."

After breezing through the first seven matches of the season without losing a game, the Pirates' first test came at home against rival Golden West, where the Rustlers topped the Pirates in four games.

But, showing early signs of this inner toughness, the Pirates dusted themselves off and beat eventual state runner-up Cypress -- on the road -- in a five-game thriller.

However, the first real sign of greatness came on Oct. 16 at home against defending OEC champion Irvine Valley. After the Lasers dominated the first two games, Coast came alive and showed the type of dominant volleyball this team was capable of.

From the third game to the middle part of the fifth game, OCC outscored the then-undefeated Lasers 62-28 en route to the comeback win, proving to themselves that they could match up well with the best teams in the state.

The victories continued for the Pirates, including a pair of five-game wins against Fullerton (Oct. 21) and Irvine Valley (Nov. 11) with only one setback along the way (a five-game loss to Cypress on Nov. 4).

Despite having six teams from the OEC in the playoffs, Orange Coast, the top seed from our conference, only earned a No. 5 seed, despite years of proven tradition. That tradition continued as three OEC schools -- Coast, Irvine Valley and Cypress -- earned trips to the State Tournament.

For Coast, that trip was punched in courtesy of a three-game sweep over Palomar at home on Nov. 24 and a five-game road win over Moorpark on Nov. 28.

But, as usual with this Coast team, nothing came easy up in Sacramento as the Pirates opened things with a four-game loss to Sierra College, sending the top seed from the south to the loser's bracket. OCC responded with a four-game triumph over Delta to stay beyond the opening day, but Cutenese and the rest of the girls knew what awaited them.

"I think we underestimated Sierra and it was a reality check for us, no doubt about it," Cutenese said. "We needed the girls to be more coachable and to believe in themselves and what we were trying to teach them. When we played Delta, we went back to what we were doing most of the season and that was playing intense, aggressive volleyball."

Having to play two matches per day the rest of the way, Coast was able to make quick work of the competition on Dec. 5, sweeping past state No. 1 Sacramento City (25-23, 25-14, 25-21) and returned the favor on Sierra with a three-game sweep (25-21, 25-12, 25-14). "We really played some of our best volleyball of the season against those two teams," Cutenese said. "We were getting offensive support from everyone and we played aggressive and strong."

It was more of the same in the loser's bracket finals on Dec. 6 with a three-game sweep over rival Irvine Valley (25-20, 25-17, 25-17), giving OCC a 3-0 record against the Lasers this year.

With that win, it was on to the finals where another familiar foe stood in the way -- the Cypress Chargers. After both teams traded wins in the first two games, the turning point of the entire tournament came in Game 3 as the lead changed hands 15 times before Coast finally prevailed, 25-23. "We got help from everyone in that game to pull that one out," Cutenese said. "That was the biggest game of the year for us to win and that gave us the momentum we needed to finish the job."

After winning Game 4 to win the match, both teams took a deep breath and played again in a one-game tiebreaker to 25 points to decide the state championship.

As usual, things started rough for the Pirates, falling behind early, but Coast turned things around and turned an early deficit into a commanding 25-16 win, giving Coast its sixth state women's volleyball title and 95th overall title in school history.

Kimya Jafroudi -- named MVP of the State Tournament -- posted an eye-popping 292 assists, turning her "solid" season into a record-setting season. Those 292 assists pushed the freshman into first place on OCC's single-season list with 1,027, shattering the previous mark of 973, set by Chelsea Spadaro in 2006.

"Winning the MVP was a great honor, but it couldn't have happened without having so many great players to pass to," Jafroudi said. "When we won that final point, I just stood there for a second, not really sure we actually won this whole thing. This is one of the most special teams I've ever played on."

Other incredible stats from the tournament ...

KILLS
Poerava Gantt -- 96
Briana Fields -- 73
Karlee Skalla -- 61
Rachel Freeno -- 54

ASSISTS
Kimya Jafroudi -- 292

DIGS
Nikki Osuna -- 167
Rachel Freeno -- 128
Poerava Gantt -- 70
Amanda Cheseborough -- 48