Orange Coast College

Pirate Sports Shorts

Thursday, October 29, 2009

By Tony Altobelli
Sports Information Director

WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL -- There were plenty of stats to go around for the Orange Coast College women's volleyball team as the fifth-ranked Pirates made quick work of visiting Santa Ana College, sweeping the Dons, 25-19, 25-15, 25-13.

Briana Fields and Kristin Rice each had seven kills to lead Coast (12-1, 6-1 in OEC), while Nikki Osuna posted 14 digs, while teammates Khrystilin Santos and Alyssa Huotari each added 11 digs.

Freshman setter Catherine Cameron dished out 24 assists.

The win keeps the Pirates tied atop the Orange Empire Conference standings through the first round of conference action.

For the Dons (3-7, 1-5), Teuila Hernandez led the way with eight kills.

OCC 3, Fullerton 2 -- It hasn't been easy these past few games for the Orange Coast College women's volleyball team, but it's definitely been memorable for all involved.

For the second straight match, the Pirates overcame a two-game deficit to pull out a 22-25, 21-25, 25-21, 25-10, 15-13 win on Wednesday night at Fullerton College against the host Hornets.

Sophomore Briana Fields led the fifth-ranked Pirates (11-1, 5-1 in OEC) with 18 kills, 13 digs and four blocks, while Poerava Gantt added 13 kills and 17 digs.

Defensively, it was a total team effort as six different Pirate players notched 10 or more digs, led by sophomores Rachel Freeno (pictured above, 21 digs) and Nikki Osuna (18 digs).

Freshman setter Kimya Jafroudi paced the offense with 45 assists.

With the loss, Fullerton drops to 5-7 overall, 1-5 in conference.

FOOTBALL -- Not even an extra week of preparation could help the Orange Coast College football team as the visiting Pirates were toppled by SCFA Southern Conference foe Grossmont, 43-12, on Saturday.

While the Pirates' rushing defense continued to impress, holding the Griffins to just 28 yards on 30 carries, Grossmont took to the skies, where they torched the OCC secondary for 416 yards and five touchdowns.

OCC's sophomore running back Ray Holley, the state's No. 2 leading rusher, was held to just 50 yards on 26 carries while fighting through a sprained medial collateral ligament he suffered in Coast's triple-OT win over Santa Ana on Oct. 10.

With the ground game contained, Coast's success in the air was also limited as quarterback Ethan Whitsell threw for 155 yards on 14-of-42 passing, with four interceptions.

Meanwhile, Grossmont QB Matt Jarvis threw for 367 yards and four touchdowns on 16-of-30 passing.

Despite the lopsided numbers, Coast trailed by just a touchdown at the half (10-3) but the Griffins came out throwing in the third quarter and hit a pair of long touchdown strikes to blow the game open.

OCC will return to action on Saturday at home against Saddleback, beginning at 6 p.m.

MEN’S WATER POLO -- The Orange Coast College men's water polo team had another successful weekend, going 3-1 at the Golden West Tournament with wins over Chaffey (15-6), Saddleback (14-8) and seventh-ranked Fullerton (10-9) and a loss to Cerritos (8-6).

Weekend goal leaders for the Pirates include Casey Sullivan (nine goals), Kyle Thorsness (eight goals) and Adam Thomas (eight goals), while goalie Mikal Marchbanks notched 49 saves over the four-game event.

Following their 3-1 weekend, the Pirates are 17-7 overall and are ranked 10th in the state, according to www.jcwaterpolo.com. Coast's biggest test of the season comes on Wednesday at 3 p.m. when the second-ranked Golden West College Rustlers come to the Pirates' pool for a crucial Orange Empire Conference matchup.

OCC 13, Fullerton 12 -- Following a successful trip up north to the Cuesta College Tournament, the Orange Coast College men's water polo team returned home and posted a 13-12 win over visiting Fullerton College on Wednesday on Orange Empire Conference action.

Michael Baba led the 10th ranked Pirates (14-6, 3-1 in OEC) with three goals and two assists, while Adam Thomas added three goals and one assist. Kyle Thorsness and Adam Smith each added two goals, while solo tallies were provided by Antonio Dominguez, Shardad Djahangivy and Casey Sullivan.

After trailing 6-3 at the half, OCC came on strong in the third quarter, using its speed and fast-break abilities to its advantage. In a 2:30 span of the third, two goals by Baba and single goals from Thorsness and Smith pushed the Pirates in front, 7-6, heading into the final eight minutes of action.

Seventh-ranked Fullerton (11-4, 1-3) used a pair of 6-on-5 opportunities to tie the contest at 8 early in the fourth, but the Pirates again used four straight goals to capture their biggest lead of the match, 12-8, with 3:32 left.

But the Hornets would come back, scoring four goals on their next six possessions to get within one at 13-12 with 55 seconds left.

An OCC shot was stopped with 40 seconds left and the Hornets had one final possession to tie things up, but their next shot rang off the post, giving Coast the ball back. The Pirates maintained possession for the final few seconds to preserve the win.

WOMEN’S WATER POLO -- The Orange Coast College women's water polo team dropped a hard-fought 13-12 decision to visiting Fullerton College on Wednesday in a battle between two of the top 10 teams in the state.

With the match tied at 11 midway through the fourth quarter, OCC's Ashley Rendon notched her third goal of the game from an assist by Brittany Daniels, giving the fifth-ranked Pirates (17-8, 3-2 in Orange Empire Conference) a 12-11 advantage with 3:17 left.

It was a one goal game that could have been much larger, given the number of 6-on-5 possessions the Pirates had. However, out of the 11 extra-swimmer advantages, Coast was only able to score on three of them.

Fullerton's Iliana Meza lobbed a shot over OCC goalie Cassandra Zaim with 1:04 left to tie the match at 12, but Coast came right back and earned another 6-on-5 with under a minute left, but the possession led to a turnover and Fullerton had the final trip down the pool with 30 seconds remaining.

In that span, Meza sent a pass down to Mayra Sarinana and the freshman 2-meter player flipped a backhanded shot into the net with one second remaining, giving the Hornets the win.

Daniels led the offense with three goals and two assists for the Pirates, while Mary Jane Cooney added three goals of her own and added an assist. Ashley Rendon tossed in three goals, while single goals were provided by Sylvia Espinosa, Tasman Backer and Jamie Bee.

In goal, Zaim stopped six shots for Coast.

WOMEN’S SOCCER -- On the third leg of their four-leg journey through the toughest portion of the Orange Empire Conference schedule, the Orange Coast College Pirates fell to visiting Cypress, 3-0, on Friday at the OCC Soccer Complex.

With Riverside, Santiago Canyon and now Cypress in their rear-view mirrors, the Pirates (10-4-1, 6-4-1 in OEC) will travel to Santa Ana College on Tuesday to take on the rival Dons (6-4-1 in OEC) at 3 p.m. with crucial seeding points on the line.

Against the Chargers (12-2-1, 7-2-1), OCC had a couple of decent scoring chances but could not convert, while Cypress made the most of its opportunities, scoring their three goals on just 12 shots.

Alyssa Simon had four saves for Coast in the loss.

MEN’S SOCCER -- The Orange Coast College men's soccer team came up on the wrong end of a 2-1 decision to Santiago Canyon on Friday in Orange Empire Conference action.

OCC (7-7-1, 4-3-1) and SCC (6-6-2, 2-5-1) battled to a scoreless first half before the host Hawks responded with back-to-back goals to take a 2-0 lead.

Jordan Gorman helped Coast get to within a goal in the 86th minute off a pass from Denny Perdomo, but the Pirates could not find the equalizer as their winless streak reached four games (0-3-1).

In goal, Zakre Silva notched seven saves for Coast.