Brink paces Pirates past Lasers
COSTA MESA -- Johannes Brink came out swinging and his strong play helped lift the Orange Coast College men's volleyball team to a three-set sweep over rival Irvine Valley on Wednesday at OCC's Peterson Gym.
Brink came through with a team-best 16 kills, two aces, a block and four digs to lead the Pirates past the Lasers, 25-21, 25-21, 26-24 in a matchup between two of the top teams in the Pacific Coast Conference. Austin Bagby chipped in eight kills, while Korey Keller and Conner Luckey each chipped in six hills.
Blake Auerbach led the team's defense with six digs, while the setting combo of Brendan Duff and Brandon Cruz combined for 27 assists for OCC (9-3, 5-1 PCC).
Arek Halaj led the Lasers (9-3, 3-3) with 13 kills.
Halaj's strong play early on helped lift the Lasers to 19-17 lead in the opening set before Coast turned things around quickly. A kill by Bagby, blocks by Luckey and Duff and an IVC net violation gave OCC a 21-19 lead.
IVC tied things up at 21 before another 4-0 run closed things out for the Pirates. Back-to-back kills by Brink, an ace by Duff and a block by Brink ended the opening set, giving OCC a 1-0 lead in the match.
It was more of the same story in the second set as IVC again jumped out early before the Pirates responded late.
Trailing 17-16, OCC used a Brink kill, an Auerbach ace and a Bagby block to take a 19-17 lead, forcing IVC into taking a timeout.
The Lasers responded with three of the next four points to tie the set at 20 before the Pirates pulled away with a 5-1 run to take a two-set lead in the match.
Coast used six aces and seven blocks to pick up easy points throughout the night, including three of those final five points in that 5-1 run.
It looked like smooth sailing for the Pirates through the third set as they jumped out to an 18-12 lead. Just seven points from defeat, the Lasers put on one final push and outscored Coast 12-6 to tie the match at 24.
But OCC survived when an IVC serve went long and a Laser return missed the court long, giving the Pirates the win.
OCC returns to action on Friday at home against San Diego Mesa, beginning at 6 p.m.
