Pirates outlast Vikings in five-set thriller

COSTA MESA -- The Orange Coast College men's volleyball team went 2-0 on Saturday at the John Altobelli Memorial North/South Quad with a three-set win over El Camino and a five-set thriller over Long Beach inside the Peterson Gym.

Will Anderson led the offensive attack with 19 kills for the Pirates (3-0), while Josh Friedman dished out 40 assists. Cash Adamsen came up with six digs to lead the defense, while libero Tyler Vedder came through with 11 clean passes off serves for the Pirates.

In the nightcap against the Vikings, Coast took on a LBCC squad that topped OCC's conference rival, Irvine Valley, in five sets earlier on Saturday. After taking an early lead, LBCC went to work and used several 2- and 3-point runs to pull ahead of the Pirates. Coast got back to within a point at 21-20 before LBCC closed things out with a 4-1 mini-run to take the opening set.

Coast trailed 12-8 early in the second set before using a 10-6 run to tie things up at 18. A kill by Adamsen and an ace by Manning Lemoine helped push the Pirates' advantage up to 21-18 and from there, both teams traded points until a kill by Anderson gave OCC a 25-22 win.

The third set was another nail-biter with both teams trading leads. Tied at 22, Coast used a kill by Zach Weston, a block by Adamsen and an errant return off a Long Beach hitter to slip past the Vikings, 25-22 and take a 2-1 lead in the match.

It looked like OCC would capture the match in four sets with a 23-21 advantage, but strong serving from LBCC's Sean Nguyen and a pair of kills by slugger Erik Hernandez helped the Vikings steal the set, 25-23 and force a fifth-and-deciding set.

With the Pirates cruising to victory in their opening match and the Vikings pushed to five sets earlier in the day, the gas tanks on the OCC squad had more juice in them and it showed in the final set. With the set tied at 3, Coast went on an all-important 8-3 run to grab an 11-6 advantage and from there, the Pirates hung on for the big win against one of the top programs in the state. With LBCC getting closer at 11-8, OCC pushed away by winning the final four points.

OCC will return to action at Santa Barbara City College on Tuesday, beginning at 6 p.m. OCC's next home match will be on Wednesday, Feb. 23 against Grossmont, also at 6 p.m.