Pirates surging in Orange Empire

Bryce Alderton

The Orange Coast College men’s volleyball team is priming itself for

a coveted spot in this year’s state finals and continued to march

toward that goal with a three-game sweep over visiting Grossmont

Wednesday.

The Pirates, ranked second in the state, came out a bit sluggish

to start the match, but found their stride and disposed of their

Orange Empire Conference foe, 30-28, 30-22, 30-26.

Sophomore outside hitter Poyer Poia led all players with 12 kills

and 12 digs while sophomore Jon Larson (nine kills) and Kaimana

Kamalani (eight kills) provided additional firepower for the Pirates,

who had won nine straight matches until top-ranked Golden West

defeated them in three games March 31.

OCC sophomore setter Mike Murphy, who finished with 49 assists

against Grossmont, didn’t dwell on the loss.

“We forgot about that match and focused on this match,” Murphy

said. “We know what we have to do against Golden West, but we’ll

worry about them next week.”

The Pirates (14-2, 6-1 in the OEC) face Golden West in the final

match of the regular season April 16.

OCC Coach Chuck Cutenese was pleased with the way his team bounced

back after last week’s loss and said they took care of the ball on

their side of the net against Grossmont (3-10, 2-5).

“One of the things we’ve done all year is focus on one team at a

time,” Cutenese, in his 12th season guiding the Bucs, said “We had

good practices leading up to this match and our performance on the

floor showed that.”

“We ran a lot of drills in practice on blocking and getting our

ball control ready for [the Griffins],” Murphy said.

Freshman middle blocker Uriah Seui tallied seven kills and three

blocks while Kamalani also blocked three balls. Sophomore libero Matt

Skolnik kept many balls alive with 10 digs and Murphy ran an

efficient offense.

“Mike Murphy did an excellent job running the offense and getting

everyone involved,” Cutenese said. “I thought we came out sluggish in

Game 1, but in Games 2 and 3 we played more aggressive.”

Coast never led by more than four points in the first game and

fought through three ties in the second game before taking the lead

for good at 12-11 after a Larson block that landed a foot inside the

service line. Parker Meek then served five straight points --

including a service ace -- as Coast built an insurmountable 19-13

cushion.

Grossmont never led in the third game as Poia heated up. The

6-foot-3 Honolulu native slammed eight kills in the game, soaring

above the net to meticulously place shots.

A light-hearted moment came with Coast leading, 29-23. Poia,

looking over and grinning at his teammates on the sideline, served

underhand, but the ball found the net. Poia usually jump serves.

Grossmont staged a mild rally that caused Cutenese to call

timeout, but a kill by Brahma Furtado off a Murphy assist sealed the

win.

The Pirates face host Palomar Friday in the first of their final

three regular-season matches, needing to at least finish second in

the OEC to be one of four teams in the state finals May 1. Golden

West entered play Wednesday 6-0 in the conference.

“Our goal is to win conference, but we have to take care of teams

before we play [Golden West],” Cutenese said. “A lot of good talent

is in the [OEC]. It comes down to who is ready to play.”