Women’s Volleyball: OCC pulls it out in five, again

Steve Virgen

COSTA MESA - Character, momentum and experience -- that’s what

drove the Orange Coast College women’s volleyball team to a Southern

California Regional playoffs first-round victory in five games, 15-8,

11-15, 14-16, 16-14, 15-9, over visiting Pasadena City Tuesday.

Playing in its fourth five-game match of the season, OCC took off to

an 11-4 lead in the final game to pull it out and remain undefeated in

rally-games this year.

The Pirates will play at Moorpark Saturday at 7 p.m. in the second

round. Moorpark advanced by defeating Cypress in four games.

“We had experience for the rally game,” said Natasha Evylln, who

finished with a game-high 38 kills. “I was getting frustrated when I

looked in their (her teammates) faces. Their heart wasn’t there. But we

started to get into it. It just all of a sudden came to us and we went

out there and won.”

Evylln played the match with tendinitis in her left knee, which was

heavily wrapped. She said she played hurt, but that “It was all good.”

It was all good for OCC as it was a night of records for the Pirates

(18-6). OCC’s Lauren Wilson set a new school record for most kills in a

season with 419 as she had 35 on the night to go along with 37 digs,

another school record for most digs in a match. The 419 kills surpasses

Beth Waterman’s 404 of last year.

OCC sophomore Tina Nguyen also set a new school record for assists

with 93.

“We just tend to step it up,” Wilson said of playing in five-game

matches. “Especially that last game. We knew it could be our last game

playing together. We just worked so hard.”

With a 1-1 tie in games, PCC (14-8) came back from a 14-10 deficit to turn the tide and win 16-14. But OCC pulled a comeback of its own in the

fourth game. With, the Lancers up 13-10, the Pirates fed off the energy

from the crowd, seized the momentum and grabbed the advantage for a 16-14

victory to go into the final game.

“It was not the same team we played last time,” OCC Coach Chuck

Cutenese said. “They played unbelievably. It just goes to show the

character of our team.”

OCC took care of the Lancers on Sept 20 in four games and Cutenese

admitted that the Pirates might have taken PCC lightly.

PCC came into the match with only one rally-game under its belt and

Coach Lori Jepsen said it was just too early in the season to remember.

“That’s what probably hurt us,” Jepsen said of the Lancers’ lack of

experience in five-game matches. “We let that fourth game get away and

that really hurt us. They just took the momentum.”

In the fifth game, OCC’s Taryn Moore made herself known as the crowd

erupted after each of her three kills. Pirates freshman Stephanie Gordon

served for four points to run the score to 11-4 and force a PCC timeout.

Fittingly, Wilson closed the match with her kill on an assist from

Nguyen.