Pirates pull out five-set thriller over Griffins
COSTA MESA -- In an up-and-down battle between two of the top teams in the Pacific Coast Conference, the Orange Coast College men's volleyball delivered the final knockout punch and beat visiting Grossmont in five sets on Friday night inside the Peterson Gym.
Johannes Brink had 25 kills to lead the Pirates past the Griffins, 21-25, 25-16, 17-25, 25-23, 15-13.
Cody Martin turned in a stellar night for the Pirates (8-3, 3-1 in Pacific Coast Conference) with 15 kills, four blocks and 14 digs, while middle blocker Austin Bagby notched 10 kills and five blocks, including a pair that sparked a remarkable comeback in the fifth-and-deciding set. Scott Enos delivered 11 digs at the libero spot, while setter Brendan Duff dished out 46 assists.
Jorge Cabrera led the Griffins (5-6, 2-2) with 21 kills, while Chet Radish added 13. Setter Garrett Adleman came through with 55 assists.
Early on, the Griffins were the aggressor as kills from Cabrera and Radish helped spark a 5-1 run, putting the visitors up late in the opening set, 19-16. OCC tied the set up at 19 with kills from Martin and Connor Luckey, but Grossmont responded with a 6-2 run to close the set out.
Orange Coast picked up the intensity early in the second set and controlled things from start to finish. The Pirates used four kills from Brink, three kills from Bagby and two from Martin to take an 18-10 lead, a lead they would not lose as the match evened up at a set apiece.
The momentum didn't stay on OCC's side for long as Grossmont regrouped and slammed the Pirates throughout the third set, leading by as many as 11 at 24-13 before a late 4-0 run made the score a bit closer than it really was.
The Griffins continued to pour it on and led 13-8 midway through the fourth set before Coast used some vertical support on defense to slow things down.
Four OCC blocks and kills by Brink, Martin and Blake Auerbach helped spark a 8-3 run, tying the set at 15 and forcing Grossmont into a timeout.
From there, the fourth set went back and forth as both teams traded blows. Finally, with Grossmont leading 18-17, Coast picked up kills from Martin, Bagby, Luckey and Brink to spark a 5-1 run, putting the Pirates up 22-19.
OCC led 24-21 before a pair of Griffin points cut the lead down to one at 24-23. Finally, a Martin kill put the set away for the Pirates and evened the match at two sets apiece.
Once again, it was Grossmont who came out strong early and built leads of 8-6, 9-7 and 12-10 in the race-to-15 fifth set. But then, the Pirates put up the block, literally, on Grossmont's soon-to-be victory.
A kill by Brink made it 12-11 ... a big one-on-one block by Bagby tied the set at 12 ... Duff stuffed a bad Grossmont pass to give OCC a 13-12 lead and another Bagby block padded the lead to 14-12.
A Davis Anderson kill made it 14-13 before Bagby fittingly ended the match with his final kill of the night.
The Pirates will return to action on Wednesday at home against Irvine Valley, beginning at 6 p.m.
