Orange Coast College

Pirates Push Perfect Mark to 22, Advance to State Finals

Saturday, December 03, 2005

COSTA MESA – Top-ranked Orange Coast completed a two-game regional playoff series the way it did the regular season, remaining unbeaten in all 66 games played after a 30-13, 30-16, 30-16 thrashing of #9-seeded Victor Valley, Saturday evening in the 2005 Southern California Regional Playoffs in Peterson Gymnasium.
“It’s a little surreal to be honest with you,” said Coast head coach Chuck Cutenese after thinking back about the road to the state tournament. “The season has gone by fast and the state tournament is upon us in a week. Tonight we played like we were when the season and everyone really contributed.”
All-state selection and Orange Empire Conference Most Valuable Player Kiwi Winkler led a balanced Coast attack with a match-best 16 kills to go along with 11 digs and a season-high six service aces. Sophomore outside hitter Brittney Ray added 10 kills and a team-leading 16 digs while Samantha Connor had seven kills and Joanna Johnson tossed in six.
While the Pirates were tested in the latter stages of their opening round win over Mt. San Antonio, this evening’s second round contest was never in doubt. The Bucs ran out to leads of 17-5, 17-7 and 21-7 in the three games, respectively, and put to rest any concerns about rust that might have lingered from two weeks off.
“I was worried about taking time off because we were playing such good volleyball that week before we left,” said Cutenese, the Orange Empire Conference and Southern California Coach of the Year. “Now, the way they played tonight, I feel like we’re right back on track.”
Sophomore setter Caitlin Parker guided the Coast offense by dishing out 31 assists while Nicole Klawitter took her turn and tallied 11 helpers. Ashlee Moon added 14 digs to help the Pirates fight off another hard-charger with aspirations of knocking off the only unbeaten team in the state.
“This team hasn’t worried about that kind of thing all year,” said Cutenese about wearing the target of the top-ranked team. “I think I worry about it more than they have and they just come out, execute and play. They are kind of unaware of those things and I don’t see that changing in a week.”
Christina Ford led Victory Valley (19-2) with four kills while Dana Ehlers tallied two kills, three blocks and one service ace. The Rams were held to just 12 kills for the match while in comparison the Pirates had no less than 13 in any one game and hit a solid .337 for the contest.
Orange Coast (22-0) will be the top seed out of Southern California 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. The tournament is an eight-team, double-elimination event with four teams from both the North and South taking part.