Long Beach City returns to No. 2 spot in volleyball poll as teams position themselves for playoff seedings
IRVINE - There was some movement in the top half of the week No. 8 California Community College Men’s Volleyball Coaches Association State Poll.
There are new teams at No. 2 and No. 4 this week.
Long Beach City, which opened the season at No. 2, is back in that spot.
The Vikings moved up after earning their best win of the season, beating previous No. 2 El Camino in four sets (25-16, 25-18, 19-25, 25-21) last Wednesday at home.
Kyle Anema led the Vikings (13-3, 8-1) with 20 kills and nine digs. Joseph Rocha nailed six kills and had a career-high 50 assists, while Miller Davis added 14 kills and Uriel Batista had 12 kills. Long Beach City has won eight matches in a row and moved into a virtual tie with El Camino for first place in the Western State Conference.
El Camino (12-2, 7-1) slipped to No. 3 on the week and has an important match against third-place Santa Barbara City (10-5, 6-3) at home on Wednesday.
Speaking of Santa Barbara, the Vaqueros moved past Irvine Valley and into fourth in this week’s rankings after playing some of the best volleyball in the state over the last month. SBCC took both Orange Coast and Long Beach City to five sets in tough defeats and then rolled off three straight wins, including sweeping at LA Pierce last Friday. Blake Lockhart had nine kills, seven digs and three aces for the Vaqueros against the Brahmas.
Irvine Valley, which is at No. 5, had its three-match win streak snapped last Friday at top-ranked Orange Coast. The Pirates defeated the Lasers, 25-20, 25-13, 25-21, to stay unbeaten at 18-0 overall. Irvine Valley slipped to 11-6 overall, but still sits second in the conference standings at 3-2.
IVC has a big match at No. 8 Golden West on Friday night.
Moorpark remained at No. 6 after sweeping Santa Monica in its lone match last week, Santiago Canyon went up a spot to No. 7 with Golden West at the eighth position, Santa Monica at ninth and Grossmont, which is undefeated in Pacific Coast Athletic Conference play, at No. 10 to round out the rankings.
Grossmont plays host to Miramar in a battle for first place in the PCAC this Wednesday.
The entire top 10 poll can be viewed below.
CCCMVCA State Top 10
1. Orange Coast (18-0, 5-0)
2. Long Beach City (13-3, 8-1)
3. El Camino (12-2, 7-1)
4. Santa Barbara City (10-5, 6-3)
5. Irvine Valley (11-6, 3-2)
6. Moorpark (8-5, 4-4)
7. Santiago Canyon (10-6, 2-3)
8. Golden West (8-7, 3-3)
9. Santa Monica (4-9, 3-5)
10. Grossmont (6-8, 3-0)
Others receiving votes: Fullerton
(Brent Shaver, CCCMVCA)