Men’s Volleyball: Pirates sweep Vikings
LONG BEACH – A mere 68 minutes after it began, the only quibble Coach Travis Turner could find with the Pirates’ men’s volleyball sweep of host Long Beach was that it hardly satisfied his competitive thirst.
The Pirates, ranked No. 2 in the state, quenched their desire to dominate, crushing the No. 4-ranked Vikings, 25-17, 25-16, 25-18, in a nonconference match on Wednesday.
Just 11 days earlier, OCC had to rally for a 26-24, 19-25, 19-25, 25-23, 15-11 triumph over the Vikings, who topped the Pirates in the state title match last season.
OCC (4-1) kept the Vikings (3-3) off balance with superior serving — both jump serves and wobbly jump-float offerings.
The visitors also exploited a height advantage at the middle blocker spots and scrambled well enough on defense to dispatch the Vikings for the Pirates’ second straight sweep.
“Winning in three is good, but you want a little adversity early on,” said Turner, whose squad trailed just once in the first set (7-6), led the entire second set, and rallied from a 3-0 deficit in the clinching game to win going away.
Sophomore outside hitter Justin Kam led the winners with 10 kills, while sophomore outside hitter Jordan Hoppe and sophomore middle blocker Austin Marriott added seven apiece.
Kam was in on three blocks, while middle blocker Bradley Hankus was in on four, to go with his three kills.
Matt Ujkic, a sophomore opposite, had six kills and one block assist, while freshman Matthew Johnson led five Pirates who produced ace serves with two jump-float gems.
“What we’ve really been working on is our serving and that was the difference,” Turner said. “We served well and we hit the areas.”
Turner also said working the middle attack was vital.
“[The Vikings] were a little undersized in the middle and we took advantage of that,” Turner said.
Turner also praised the leadership of Hoppe, who has stepped up to fill a strong leadership void created when Gianluca Grasso, who shared Pacific Coast Conference Player of the Year honors as a freshman last season, but left for USC after a strong fall.
“Losing [Grasso] was brutal, and not just because of his volleyball,” Turner said. “But he also has a strong personality and replacing that was going to take time. I thought it would take more time, but Hoppe has really been rising to the occasion and developing as a person. His leadership has been huge.”
Freshman Colby Elder had 20 assists and one ace, while Chase Moothart, Hoppe and Jacob Gilliam also added aces.
Hankus and Zane Moothart had three kills each, while Gilliam added nine assists for the winners.
OCC returns to action at home on Wednesday against San Diego Miramar.
Twitter: @BarryFaulkner5
