COMMUNITY COLLEGE ROUNDUP : Golden West Comes Back to Beat Los Angeles Pierce

Golden West, overwhelmed by barely making it to the State men’s volleyball tournament, played like that Friday in the first game against top-seeded Los Angeles Pierce at Irvine Valley College.

But Golden West came together to win match, 3-15, 15-13, 15-12, 15-8, to advance to tonight’s 7:30 final against Palomar.

“We were really, really excited to be here,” Golden West Coach Alan Knipe said. “We were playing to high. We just needed to calm down.

The match turned in the second game when Golden West rallied back from 9-5 and 12-9 deficits. Golden West twice served into the net on game point but finally won on Shadd Walker’s stuff block.

Pierce (16-3) went up, 10-6, in the third. But Golden West rallied back, taking the lead, 11-10, on a pair of aces by Walker.

The winning point came when Brian Gordon and Nathan Larsen blocked a shot from Pierce’s Kevin Burnell, who is going to Pepperdine next fall. Burnell had a match-high 36 kills.

Golden West led the entire fourth game as the slowly went out of Pierce. The Rustlers closed out the match on a block by Jeff Carlucci.

Gordon and Phil Tifrea had 13 kills each and Carlucci and Greg Reitz had 12 kills each for Golden West (17-5).