Bryce AldertonFor the second time in three...

Bryce Alderton

For the second time in three weeks, the Orange Coast College men’s

volleyball team realized how far it has come and how far, still, it

needs to go to reach the pinnacle.

The Pirates, who already clinched a berth in the four-team state

tournament, walked out of the gym Friday night with a tad more

confidence after taking host Golden West, the top-ranked team in

California, to four games before losing, 30-22, 22-30, 30-24, 30-24,

in the Orange Empire Conference finale.

With the second-game win, OCC (15-4, 7-3 in the OEC), ranked

second in the state, became just the sixth team to extend Golden West

(16-0, 10-0), which clinched its second straight conference crown,

past three games this season.

The Rustlers swept the Pirates in the teams’ prior match March 31.

“We wanted to show [the Rustlers] that we can play,” OCC freshman

middle blocker Jon Arnold said.

Arnold, who stands 6-foot-5, entered in the second game and gave

Coast a spark at the net. He finished with six blocks (three solo)

and three kills.

“We had good passing,” Arnold said when asked what led to Coast’s

victory in the second game. “We had three [hitting] options, which

allowed us to run the middle and outside.”

Coast’s sophomore setter Mike Murphy finished with 44 assists,

finding outside hitters Poyer Poia (11 kills) and Kaimana Kamalani

(nine).

But the Pirates couldn’t maintain the efficient passing in the

final two games, which ultimately led to defeat, OCC Coach Chuck

Cutenese said.

“It doesn’t matter who you are playing, the key to any match is

ball control and [the Rustlers] had better ball control,” Cutenese

said. “In the second game we blocked better and served aggressively.

In games three and four we missed tons of serves and you can’t afford

to do that against teams like this.”

Parker Meek led OCC with 11 digs while Shawn Pacquing finished

with three service aces. Freshman Brahma Furtado tallied eight digs

and added two blocks.

The Rustlers tallied nine service aces -- six from sophomore Mark

Lotman -- to Coast’s five. Lotman slammed a game-high 20 kills while

6-7 sophomore middle blocker Adam Sorenson, last season’s OEC Most

Valuable Player, tallied 15 for Golden West, a five-time state

champion which clinched its first undefeated regular season.

“[The Rustlers] are competitive at every position,” Arnold said.

“There is no one on that team that wouldn’t start anywhere else. A

team like that is tough to play against.”

OCC and Golden West could meet for a third time this season in the

state final May 1.

Both schools host semifinal matches at 1 p.m. that day with the

final at 7 p.m. at Golden West.

So what will it take for Coast to defeat the Rustlers, should the

teams meet again?

“Listen to what the coaches say in practice and push ourselves,”

Arnold said. “Hopefully we will meet [the Rustlers] in the state

tournament and show we can contend there.”

“We need to have better passing and better defense,” Cutenese

said.