Orange Coast College

ORANGE COAST CROWNED STATE CHAMPIONS

Monday, December 12, 2005

FRESNO - Tournament MVP Kiwi Winkler fired a match-best 20 kills to lead top-ranked Orange Coast to a 22-30, 30-19, 13-30, 30-22, 15-12 win over #2-ranked San Joaquin Delta for the 2005 California state championship, Sunday afternoon in the 2005 California Community Colleges Commission on Athletics Women’s Volleyball Championships presented by U.S. Bank inside the Selland Arena.
    “I really don’t feel like it’s sunk in yet,” said victorious Coast head coach Chuck Cutenese, who claims his first state crown in his 15th season in charge. “When it happened, I was watching the play and we had the great rotation with Kiwi Winkler in the front row. I watched it happened and then I didn’t feel like it had actually happened. It was that surreal moment that everyone talks about.”
    Winkler, a 1st-team all-American and the Orange Empire Conference Player of the Year, fittingly ended an unbeaten Coast season with a smash down the left side at 26-0 despite the Pirates being pushed further than they had all season long. Unbeaten in 72 games heading into yesterday’s semifinal against the Mustangs, the Pirates dropped one game, then dropped two of the first three today.
    “I knew that last ball was going to come to me,” said Winkler, who finished two matches against the Mustangs in the tournament with a combined 32 kills. “I think even the other team knew I was going to get the last ball.”
    Faced with a deficit for the first time all season, the Pirates bounced back from a sluggish first frame to level the match with a 30-19 win. Aabria Lipscomb continued her strong play over the last two days and had five kills and a block in the game while Winkler added six and Joanna Johnson got on track with three kills and a block.
    As quickly as the momentum came to the Pirates, Delta snatched it right back and put a thumping on the Pirates in game three. Breanne Zellmer pounded away on the Pirates with three kills and three aces as the Mustangs jumped out to a 7-2 lead and held the Bucs to just seven kills to regain the lead.
    Like champions, the Pirates responded in kind and regrouped with a strong performance to force a deciding fifth game. With the game tied early at 13-13, Winkler tallied a pair of kills, then Lipscomb chipped in with three more around an ace by Ashlee Moon to build a 22-16 cushion. Five Delta errors and late kills by Winkler and Samantha Connor helped level the match once more.
    Game five had just as many swings of momentum as the previous four as the Mustangs jumped out to a quick 7-3 lead only to see the Pirates knot things up at 8-8 after a tandem block by Lipscomb and Eva Johnson. The Bucs tacked on two more points thanks to a kill by Brittany Ray and Delta error and never trailed again.
    The Pirates needed two match points to claim the title, but after Ellie Cornfoot staged off the first attempt, there was no doubt left after Nicole Klawitter set the ball out wide left to Winkler to put the icing on the championship.
    “That last point was the perfect exclamation point on our season,” said Cutenese, whose team turned in just the second unbeaten campaign in program history and breaks a string of 12-straight state titles by district-rival Golden West. “Our bench made such a huge contribution this weekend. I told the starters that they got us here, but the bench made all the difference in helping us win it all.”
    Lipscomb posted a season-high 15 kills and added four blocks for the Pirates while Connor had 10, Joanna Johnson had nine and Brittany Ray added seven. Winkler also paced the defense with 21 digs to go along with 19 from Moon and 13 from Ray. Klawitter and Parker each dished out 30 assists as the Pirates went with a 6-2 set-up for most of the match.
    Alicia Karver led a balanced attack for San Joaquin Delta (25-3) with 14 kills while Cornfoot and Francis Sandor had 13 apiece and Zellmer chipped in with 10 and 11 digs. All-tournament pick Hillary Rasmussen had 54 assists and 15 digs while Ashley Hullen had 20 digs and Jordanne Brenkwitz tallied 19 digs. Sandor led all players with eight block assists.