Pirates can’t take the fifth

COSTA MESA ? The Orange Coast College men’s volleyball team is falling into a pattern it would rather not repeat.

For the fourth time in 10 games, the Pirates lost a five-game match, this time to Moorpark in a 25-17, 25-15, 17-25, 16-25, 15-8 setback. Orange Coast (5-5) has yet to win a five-game match and all but one of its losses have come in five games.

Friday’s version was of the fall behind, then comeback before tightening up in the fifth game variety.

Backup setter Keith Thorton led the team with 39 assists. Napua Canda and Brett Lessman had 14 kills each.

Orange Coast Coach Chuck Cutenese said the team’s lack of success in long matches is partly due to youth. Out of 10 players in the rotation, seven are freshmen.

“Part of it is youth. We came out tight in the fifth game,” Cutenese said. “We’ll get over that hump. When you lose in five, it eats at your confidence because you’re always in it.”

Cutenese did not have confidence in his starting six after watching them drop the first two games, and replaced four of the six players on the floor to start the fourth game. The new lineup led the Pirates to sizable victories in games three and four.

“I gave that group a lot of credit for coming in and doing what they did,” Cutenese said. “I have to question if I have the right players on the floor. Maybe this is the wake-up call.”

There was nothing comfortable about the Pirates’ play in the fifth game. After jumping ahead, 4-2, Moorpark came back to tie the score, 5-5. Orange Coast was blocked for three straight points and never recovered.

Lessman said he saw what was happening.

“We can’t finish,” Lessman said. “We learned a lot from this. We learned how to come back and compete. We could have beat them.”

The Pirates looked unbeatable in games three and four, leading by as many as 10 points in the fourth and nine in the third.

“We did pretty well at the end. We just started weak,” Canda said. “We just have to start strong. We picked it up. We had more intensity and we put the pressure on them.”dpt-occvolley04.IMGGraphicInfoC61OK7IF20060304C61OK7IFNo Caption