Pirates head up to West Valley for Beach Volleyball State Championships

SARATOGA -- For the Orange Coast College beach volleyball team, Thursday's CCCAA Beach Team State Championship Tournament is a shot at redemption from an early exit at last year's event. For OCC's four returning sophomores -- Brisa Zapata-Reaves, Paige Cutwright, Izzy Duchaine and Lexy Mendoza -- it's the end of an era as this foursome has helped set a new standard of excellence for the Pirate beach program.

The last two seasons of OCC beach volleyball has seen the Pirates win 34-of-37 head-to-head matches, capturing back-to-back undefeated Orange Empire Conference championships and the first-ever trip to the state finals last year, with a return trip this year.

"I was just thinking how special this sophomore class is," OCC head coach Chuck Cutenese said. "Back to back conference champs and back to back state appearances ... says a lot about their dedication to their sport and hard work."

The Pirates (17-2) -- seeded No. 2 out of Southern California -- will take on the South's No. 4 club, Grossmont College -- on Thursday at 11 a.m. at West Valley College. OCC's second match of the day will be against the North's No. 1 seed, Cabrillo College, at 1 p.m. In the other pool play, it will be Ventura (South #1), Feather River (North #2) and Santa Barbara City (South #3). The winner of each pool will battle for the championship Thursday night.

"We got to see two pairs of Grossmont at the SoCal Regional Pairs, but all I know about Cabrillo is that they're the top team in the north," Cutenese said. "For us to be successful, we need to take care of the ball on our side of the net and to not force things when we are out of system. Also, we need to focus on good serves."

Half of the field in Thursday's team tournament return from last year, including state runner-up Feather River (17-3) which advanced with a pair of 4-1 wins over American River and Fresno City during regional championship play on May 2. The Big 8 Conference champion Golden Eagles will be the North's second seed behind Coast Conference champion Cabrillo (18-3), which beat Sierra (4-1) and West Valley (3-0) to qualify.

SoCal will be represented by Coast,  Ventura (21-2), Santa Barbara City (20-3) and Grossmont (19-6). Ventura brought home the Western State Conference title with an 11-1 mark, while Santa Barbara was runner-up in the WSC while Grossmont was second in the Pacific Coast Athletic Conference.

All four SoCal qualifiers swept through their regional qualifiers to punch their tickets to Saratoga, including Ventura which had a pair of 5-0 victories to ease its way, and Grossmont, which fought through a pair of tough 3-2 victories.

Cabrillo, Orange Coast and Grossmont will comprise Pool A on Thursday while Ventura, Feather River and Santa Barbara will make up Pool B. The teams in each pool will play each other starting at 9 a.m. with the pool winners facing off for the state championship at the end of the day.

Irvine Valley edged Feather River, 3-2, in an exciting championship last year on the Lasers' home courts. In last year's pool play, Coast swept past San Diego Mesa, 5-0, before falling to Feather River, 3-2, eliminating the Pirates from the championship finals.

"The key is to not let the moment overtake us," Cutenese said. "I felt the pressure got to us last year and with four returners from last years team and transfer Corinne Williams who played in state for Sierra, I'm hoping our experience will show."