Raiders flatten OCC

COSTA MESA — Bucking recent history, tradition, a raucous home crowd, a size disadvantage, and perhaps popular wisdom, ultimately proved more formidable for the Moorpark Community College men’s volleyball team Saturday night than its opponent.

Host Orange Coast had already beaten the Raiders at Moorpark this season, had appeared in 11 more state title matches and won four more crowns than the visitors from Ventura County.

Further, the Pirates were taller and logical favorites, since the only team they had lost to this season, Irvine Valley, was eliminated by Moorpark in the semifinals of the California Community College Athletic Assn. championships Thursday night.

But with its commanding 30-24, 30-24, 30-25 victory over the Pirates, Moorpark proved less can be more.

“It was there for us, no doubt,” said OCC Coach Travis Turner, speaking of what would have been the program’s first state title since 1994, its sixth overall. “I think you have to give [the Raiders] a little bit of credit; they played pretty well. But I just don’t think we came out in the right mind-set. We came out with some purpose on Thursday [a four-game win over Long Beach], but tonight we just came out flat.”

The Pirates (18-3) committed 16 service errors and did not record an ace. They also hit .209 as a team and were bested in digs (40-36), kills (51-43) and service receive errors (3-0).

Moorepark (16-4), which hit .250 as a team, had three aces and only nine service errors to help overcome OCC’s 11-9 edge in team blocks.

The Raiders also overcame a taller OCC squad, as Moorpark’s 6-foot-4 sophomore setter Adam Quinn looks down upon all but one of his top four hitters.

“We aren’t very tall, but we’re awfully fast,” Moorpark Coach Steve Burkhart said. “And [Quinn] just sets the table for everyone, which is awesome.”

Quinn, the tournament MVP, had 41 assists, as well as the admiration of both coaches.

“There were a lot of factors, and Quinn was one of them,” Turner said of his team’s defeat. “He set a really good match.”

Turner specified serving as the biggest factor in OCC’s eighth loss in 13 state final appearances. But he didn’t stop there.

“Serving was huge,” Turner said. “We had 16 errors and no aces. We haven’t done that all year. We rely so heavily on our serving, too, so that was a crucial part of the match.”

Burkhart also pointed to serving as a key.

“We didn’t let them score a lot of points on their serve,” Burkhart said. “That was the main difference [between Saturday and OCC’s 23-30, 30-23, 30-21, 25-30, 15-10 nonconference win at Moorpark on Feb. 19]. Our ball control was really good [Saturday].”

The Raiders, in fact, controlled the match to add to the 2005 state crown they won in their first and only previous final appearance. OCC did not lead in the first game, led only twice in the second (2-1 and 3-2) and never led by more than two in the third game, in which the hosts’ final advantage was 8-7.

Moorpark’s ability to control momentum prompted Turner to go to his bench to try to find a winning combination.

“I just didn’t feel right with the guys who were out there,” Turner said. “I just didn’t think they were going to get the job done.

“I had to take a chance [with substitutions] and obviously that didn’t work out either. But I had to do what I had to do.”

Only sophomore outside hitter Brad Hemmerling did not leave the match for OCC. Hemmerling, bound for Long Beach State, led the Pirates with 19 kills, while hitting .255.

Starting freshman outside hitter Harrison Carroll, who starred in the Pirates’ quarterfinal sweep of Santa Monica on Tuesday, had three kills and a negative hitting percentage.

Outside hitter Troy Tomasello, another freshman, had 10 kills and hit .273 for OCC, which received five combined kills from its two freshmen starting middle blockers.

Middle Jeff Patton had four kills and a team-best seven block assists.

Sophomore setter Paul Leon, bound for Santa Clara University, had 36 assists and seven digs, while sophomore libero Harrison Phelps, bound for Hawaii, led OCC with 14 digs.

Freshman outside hitter Luke Ammerman came off the bench to record five kills in nine attempts (a .444 percentage), but he also had a team-worst four service errors.

Moorpark recorded match point when freshmen Justin Johnson’s jump serve went into the net.

Turner said the Pirates may have let down when Moorpark upset IVC to advance to the final.

“It’s unfortunate, but it’s only natural,” Turner said. “Also, we had beaten them in five at their place [this season] and we knocked them out of the playoffs last year at their place when they were heavily favored.”

Hemmerling and Tomasello both represented OCC on the all-tournament team.

Moorpark had four hitters with double-figure kills, including all-tournament performers Kyle Auge (13) and Josh Howley (12).