Pirates rounding into form

COSTA MESA — As the playoffs quickly approach for the Orange Coast College men’s volleyball team, the end result is what’s the most important.

So, though the Pirates weren’t always at their sharpest in a home Pacific Coast Conference match against last-place San Diego Mesa on Wednesday, the resulting 30-23, 30-26, 20-30, 30-23 win got the job done.

OCC (15-3, 9-2 in conference), which opened the night tied for first in conference with Grossmont, maintains an excellent chance of winning at least a share of the conference title.

The Pirates play at rival Golden West on Friday in their regular-season finale.

“Some guys got some chances to play,” said OCC Coach Travis Turner, who used his bench liberally during the later games against San Diego Mesa (1-16, 0-10). “And we rested a few guys … We’ve got to create some momentum going into the playoffs, and this starts it off.”

Mesa came in with nothing to lose and put up a battle in each game. The Olympians were up in Game 1 as late as 16-15, but OCC went on a 12-5 run — highlighted by a pair of kills by freshman opposite Keali’iokekai Bertelmann — to take control.

“Keali hasn’t played much,” Turner said, “but he came in and did a really good job.”

In Game 2, Mesa was up 6-5 before OCC sophomore setter Trevor Holmes, an Estancia High product, rattled off three straight service aces. The Pirates never trailed in that game again.

Holmes finished with a team-high 38 assists, and Keith Thornton added 21. Sophomore libero Alika DeRego had 16 digs, which moved him to the No. 2 spot on the OCC all-time digs list.

Kevin Welch, a Corona del Mar High product, had a team-high 17 kills and added eight digs for OCC. Brett Lessman finished with 14 kills.

Game 3 was back and forth early, but Mesa went on an 8-1 run midway through to seize control at 25-17. The Pirates missed three serves late in the game to aid the visitors’ cause.

Mesa’s Justin Conde had four of his team-high 11 kills in the game.

“We definitely had a lot more intensity in Game 3,” said San Diego Mesa setter Will Capistrano. “There was a lot of energy on the court, and we were getting fired up. It was good taking a game off them.”

But OCC came back strong in Game 4, as two straight big kills by Matt Knutson (12 kills) opened up a 17-7 lead and forced a Mesa timeout.

Knutson again had successive thunderous kills later in the game, giving the Pirates match point at 29-22.

Welch returned to volleyball last fall after leaving Indiana University as a walk-on football player. He said he’s happy with the progress both he and his team have made, pointing out the Pirates’ 14-match winning streak before two five-game losses to Grossmont and Irvine Valley last week.

“Not a lot of teams can say they’ve done that,” Welch said. “As a whole, we’re doing really well. Personally, I always want to get better. I’m OK with where I’m at right now, but you always want to get better.”