Men’s volleyball preview: Team coming together

Tony Altobelli

COSTA MESA - With three Orange Empire Conference crowns in the past

six years, the Orange Coast College men’s volleyball coach Chuck Cutenese

knows a good team when he sees it and he’s very excited about this year’s

squad.

“In my years coaching here, I haven’t had a team come together and work

as hard as this group has,” Cutenese said. “This team is just that; a

team. The leadership has really brought this group together.”

The Pirates have four players returning from last year’s 17-4 squad:

middle blockers Dave Moser and Brian Brown and outside hitters Brad Evans

and Patrick McCarty.

“These guys didn’t start last year, but all saw considerable action as

freshmen last year,” Cutenese said.

Backing up Evans and McCarty on the outside will be Josh Miller, Eric

Barnes and Christian Mariotti.

“These three should provide some stability and strength in the outside

hitters.”

The strength of the Pirates, according to Cutenese, is in the middle,

with 6-foot-4 Brown and 6-foot-5 Moser leading the way.

“Most of our experience comes in the middle,” Cutenese said. “These guys

each gained a ton of experience last year and with their size, they’ll be

tough to beat.”

Backing up the middle will be 6-foot-4 Joseph Lattanzio.

The Pirates will have height working to their advantage at opposite with

Moser and Nathan Hallett, each 6-foot-5, along with 6-foot-1 B.J.

Lightvoet.

“They’re all big and physical,” Cutenese said. “B.J. is our biggest

jumper (skying five feet over his frame) and Nathan is left-handed, which

is an advantage at the opposite position.”

The setter position is up for grabs with freshmen Scott Alley, Nick

Ptaschinski and Scott Winant vying for the job.

“It will come down to who is setting well in practice that will determine

who sets for this team,” Cutenese said. “All three have roughly the same

size and ability, so it will be close.”

OCC’s defense will be led by David Engle and Edwin Chun.

“The key to our defense will be quickness,” Cutenese said. “Those guys

should be able to cover a lot of ground in a hurry.”

Despite the glowing praise, nothing is for certain in the always-tough

Orange Empire Conference.

“Grossmont has all its players returning and both Irvine Valley and

Golden West each had strong recruiting classes,” Cutenese said. “There’s

definitely no clear-cut favorites out there.”

ORANGE COAST COLLEGE MEN’S VOLLEYBALL

1 Brad Evans 6-3 So.

2 Brian Brown 6-4 So.

3 Nick Ptaschinski 6-0 Fr.

4 Chris Eagle 5-11 Fr.

5 Dave Moser 6-5 So.

6 Edwin Chun 5-5 Fr.

7 Patrick McCarty 6-3 So.

8 B.J. Lightvoet 6-1 Fr.

9 Nathan Hallett 6-5 Fr.

11 Eric Barnes 6-1 Fr.

12 Christian Mariotti 6-2 Fr.

13 David Engle 6-3 Fr.

14 Dave Elliott 6-7 Fr.

15 Josh Miller 5-11 So.

16 Scott Alley 6-2 Fr.

17 Scott Winant 6-1 Fr.

18 Joseph Lattanzio 6-4 So.

Head Coach: Chuck Cutenese