Pirates start strong, but Rustlers rally to win in four
COSTA MESA -- The Orange Coast College men's volleyball team came out strong, but the visiting Golden West College Rustlers finished stronger and won in four sets on Friday night inside OCC's Peterson Gym.
Matt Hilling's 17-kill performance helped lead the way for the Rustlers (5-2, 1-0) in their 21-25, 25-22, 25-21, 26-24 Pacific Coast Conference win over the host Pirates (5-3, 1-1).
Sophomore middle blocker Tyler Kulikowski added 14 kills for the Rustlers, while Luke Pope dished out 49 assists and Weston Carico notched seven digs.
For the Pirates, Cody Martin led the way with 15 kills, while Johannes Brink added 14 kills to go along with three solo blocks. Austin Bagby notched 11 kills and a .550 hitting percentage, Scott Enos came up with eight digs and Brendan Duff distributed 45 assists.
Both teams went back and forth in the opening set before Coast grabbed the lead for good with an 8-1 run to take a 19-13 lead. Three kills by Martin and a single putaway by Korey Keller highlighted OCC's outburst.
GWC would answer with a mini-run of its own but could not get any closer than three points at 22-19. Kills by Brink, Bagby and Martin iced the opening set for Coast.
The "big run" would head over to the Rustlers in the second set. With the set tied 5-5, GWC went on a 15-6 run to take control of things. A pair of blocks by Pope and some unforced OCC errors helped give GWC the lead and even the match at a set apiece.
The third set saw seven lead changes and nine ties before the Rustlers finally grabbed hold of the reins. With the set tied at 18, blocks by Pope and Kulikowski helped spark a 4-1 run, putting the Rustlers up for good.
It was another see-saw set for these two rival teams in the fourth. Golden West carried a three-point lead at 20-17 before a long serve, a wide return and a Brink putaway tied the set at 20.
Both teams traded blows the rest of the way. Orange Coast used the hitting of Brink and Martin to fight off one match point, but finally, the Rustlers got the big dig and used a Hilling kill off of a Pirate block to end the match.
OCC will return to action on Friday at San Diego City College, beginning at 6 p.m. Coast's next home match will be Friday, March 15 against Grossmont, also at 6 p.m.
