Pirates return to postseason after Friday's five-game win over Lasers

IRVINE -- It wasn't easy, but nothing throughout this 2013 season for the Orange Coast College men's volleyball team has been. 

Playing in a must-win situation to advance to the playoffs, the Pirates headed to Irvine Valley College and pulled out a hard-fought five-set win, 25-23, 25-17, 18-25, 19-25, 15-6, to return to the postseason for the eighth straight season and the 19th time over the past 20 seasons.

"It was a great win for us in a place that's always tough to play at," OCC head coach Travis Turner said. "We played great early on, then stumbled when IVC fought back, but we were able to regroup and finish strong."

Johannes Brink led the Pirates (12-6, 8-4 in Pacific Coast Conference), while Cody Martin added 13 kills, 10 digs and seven total blocks. 

With the win, the Pirates earned the third-and-final playoff spot in the PCC and will take on Long Beach City College on Tuesday at LBCC, beginning at 7 p.m. The Vikings (14-3, 8-2 in Western State Conference) finished tied for first with L.A. Pierce, but earned the No. 2 seed after losing the tiebreaker with the Brahmas. 

Coast came out red hot inside the Lasers' gym, winning the first two sets. In the opener, Coast trailed 23-21 before ripping off four straight point to take the early lead in the match. In the second set, OCC used a mid-set run to grab an 18-13 lead and never looked back.

The Lasers (13-5, 7-5) returned the favor in the third and fourth sets with convincing wins, putting both teams' playoff hopes on a one-game, 15-point, winner-take-all set.

In the final set, the Pirates returned to earlier form and jumped out to a 4-1 lead. The lead grew to 8-3 at the change-over before an 11-4 advantage proved too much for the Lasers to overcome. Martin's strong play led to six of OCC's points in the deciding set.

The Pirates and Vikings have a long, storied postseason rivalry. Last year, the two met for the state championship (a four-set LBCC win) and this year, the Pirates used a shorthanded squad and pushed the Vikings to a fifth set before losing down the stretch.

The winner of Tuesday's matchup will advance to the State Final Four, which begins on Thursday at 5 p.m., also at LBCC.