Orange Coast College

Winkler Pushes Pirates Into Regional Finals, 3-0

Wednesday, November 30, 2005

COSTA MESA - Freshman outside hitter Kiwi Winkler fired a match-best 20 kills to lead top-seeded Orange Coast to a 30-22, 30-22, 31-29 win over #16-seeded Mt. San Antonio, Wednesday evening in the first round of the Southern California Regional Playoffs in Peterson Gymnasium. "I expected some bumps along the way tonight," said Coast head coach Chuck Cutenese. "We were playing really well, took two weeks off and gave the girls four days off in a row around Thanksgiving. I liked the way we started in game one, then we struggled a little bit in game two. I like the fact that we were pushed a little bit in game three and we stepped up to the challenge."
The Pirates were idle for two weeks between their regular season finale against Santa Ana and their playoff opener, but showed little rust in cruising through the first game. Winkler, the Orange Empire Conference Most Valuable Player, and all-OEC selection Samantha Connor each had four kills in the first frame to get the Pirates off and running. The two combined for five of those eight during a key 10-2 stretch that put the Bucs ahead 20-12.
Game two took a bit more time to be decided, but once again the Orange Empire Conference champions were up to the task. With the Mounties hanging around at 12-11, the Bucs ran off six of the next seven thanks to two kills and an ace by Winkler. The visitors stuck around as late as 24-20, but Winkler had four more kills over the last six Coast points to double the advantage.
Despite the deficit, Mt. San Antonio played as if it had nothing to lose and pushed the Pirates near the edge of dropping their first game of the season in the final stanza. Myra Lealaitafea and Amber Herrera combined for seven kills early on as the Mounties jumped out to a 20-15 edge. The Bucs quickly answered, however, as Connor smashed a kill and then was a part of four-straight blocks to even the game.
The Mounties continued to push and squeaked ahead to 26-24 before two errors helped the Pirates tie it up once again. Each team was able to capture the serve over the next four points before Winkler put the Bucs up with one of her nine kills in the final game. Courtney Carter briefly answered with a kill of her own for Mt. SAC, but Winkler tallied the final two points to end the tension and put the Pirates into the next round.
"This was a good way to come back from a break", said Cutenese. "I think we're ready. The girls were all here to play tonight and they'll be ready to go again on Saturday."
Winkler also shared team-high honors in digs with Brittany Ray at 14 apiece while Connor chipped in with 10 kills and six blocks (two solo). Joanna Johnson also added eight kills and three blocks. Caitlin Parker and Nicole Klawitter combined to dish out 45 assists as Parker also had nine digs. Ashlee Moon also tallied 10 digs as the libero.
Heilala Kolomalu led the way for Mt. SAC (13-8) with nine kills and one block while Ashley Walker added four kills and five blocks to go along with six kills from Herrera.
Orange Coast (21-0) will take on the winner of #9 Victor Valley and #8 Santa Monica on Saturday evening at 7 p.m. The winner of that match will be one of four southern region representatives at the 2005 California Community Colleges Commission on Athletics Women's Volleyball Championships presented by U.S. Bank, December 9-11 at the Selland Arena in Fresno.