OCC wins in four

COSTA MESA ? Though the Orange Coast College men’s volleyball team was without its setter Friday night, it refused to settle for anything but a victory in a key Orange Empire Conference match against Irvine Valley.

The Pirates, playing for the first time without Estancia High product Trevor Holmes, who broke the fifth metatarsal bone in his left hand at Thursday’s practice, came out fighting to earn a 25-20, 18-25, 25-23, 25-20 triumph.

Orange Coast (9-6, 4-0 in conference) will meet Golden West, also unbeaten against conference foes, in a showdown for first place Wednesday in Huntington Beach.

“I got the call at about 4 p.m. today that Trevor’s hand was broken and he was out,” OCC Coach Chuck Cutenese said. “I knew one of two things could happen. Either we could step up, or we could be in trouble.”

Cutenese said the Pirates, in fact, came out as strong as they had all season.

“The key, to me, was that that was the most aggressive we’ve been all year,” he said. “We were fighting and I saw more people on the floor going after balls than I’ve seen.”

Irvine Valley assistant Eric Olsen, a former assistant at Newport Harbor High, agreed.

“[The Pirates] had a passion, they wanted it, and they went after it,” said Olsen, who spoke for Head Coach Tom Pestolesi, a former coach at Estancia and Newport Harbor. “They had more respect for the game, which is something our team has been fighting with all year.”

Sophomore middle blocker Scott Sankey, a former Estancia standout, led the winners with 15 kills and four blocks.

Freshman Keith Thornton started in place of Holmes and produced a team-high 26 assists. OCC sophomore captain Drew Ginther, who saw time at setter last season, reprised that role to add 19 assists.

“Scott has been our kill leader about 90% of the time this season,” Cutenese said. “Tonight, he also did a good job blocking. I thought he shut down their middles, so they had to focus on other hitters. I thought this was his best all-around match of the season.”

Sankey said he and his teammates had no trouble rising to the occasion.

“This was a big match,” Sankey said. “I think we wanted to win more. We stepped up.”

The Pirates stepped away from the Lasers (5-4, 1-2) after the two teams tied for the 14th time in the opening game at 14-14.

Two Irvine Valley miscues and a stuff block by freshman opposite Albert Dudoit helped OCC establish control, before going on to finish out the first game.

IVC rallied to even the match with a strong second game, but OCC rode an 11-6 advantage to claim the third game.

In the fourth game, OCC used three kills by Sankey and two more by Stefan Brule to score seven straight and build a 10-2 lead.

The Lasers closed to within 13-10, but OCC spurted again to close out the match. Sankey kills produced three of the final five Pirate points.

“We’ve struggled to finish this season, so that was good to see,” Cutenese said of his team closing it out in four. “We’ve lost four five-game matches this season after we had the lead.”

Brett Lessman, a freshman middle blocker, and freshman outside hitter Napua Canda each added 11 kills for the winners, who will be without Holmes for an unspecified time.

Irvine Valley was led by freshman Tyler Strickland (19 kills and five blocks) and sophomore Eric Eastman (nine kills).

The Lasers’ starting lineup to open the match included sophomore Josh Kornegay, who played last season at OCC.

Kornegay, the CIF Southern Section Division III Co-Player of the Year on the Eagles’ 2004 Division III championship team that included Sankey and Holmes, played sparingly after the first game and did not have a kill.dpt-occvolley25.IMGGraphicInfoF71PALR120060325F71PALR1No Caption