Pirates sweep past Olympians -- showdown with Rustlers set for Friday

COSTA MESA -- The Orange Coast College men's volleyball team overcame some erratic serving to sweep past visiting San Diego Mesa College, 25-18, 25-17, 25-18, in a Pacific Coast Conference matchup on Wednesday night inside the Peterson Gym.

The Pirates (12-1, 5-1 in PCC) -- co-leaders with Grossmont College atop the conference standings, racked up an unflattering 13 service errors against the Olympians (2-11, 1-5).

Also in the giving mood, the Olympians returned the favor, so to speak, and racked up 11 service errors of their own.

Brandon Dau led Coast with 10 kills, while Ty Hutchins added seven, Nick Amado chipped in five and Jeff Taylor and Scott Metrakos contributed four each. Setter Brendan Duff dished out 25 assists.

Dillon Cox had seven kills to lead the Olympians.

Playing without the services of standout freshman opposite Jim Webb (ankle), the Pirates came out ragged and trailed 10-7 before a kill and a block by Dau and kills by Amado and Taylor helped spark a 6-2 run, putting Coast ahead, 13-12.

With OCC ahead 15-14, a 6-1 scoring outburst by the Pirates put the hosts ahead 21-15. Mesa answered back with a pair of consecutive points before OCC closed the first set out by winning four of the next five points.

The second set saw another inconsistent start by Coast, allowing the Olympians to hang in there and tie things up at 15-15.

A kill by Hutchins and a pair of big returns by Metrakos helped spark a 7-1 run, putting the Pirates ahead for good.

There would be no slow start for the Pirates in the third set as they dashed out to a 10-2 lead and never looked back. Dau came through with three kills during that run, while the Pirate middle blockers went to work and notched three big blocks.

Mesa kept fighting and got as close as 23-18 before the Pirates used a long serve and a Taylor kill to end the match.

The Pirates can now turn their full attention to their rivals up the road -- the Golden West College Rustlers (7-6, 3-3), who will come to the Peterson Gym on Friday night, beginning at 6 p.m.

These two teams met at GWC back on Feb. 26 and the Pirates escaped the Rustlers' gym with a five-set win, 25-27, 25-20, 21-25, 25-17, 16-14. Golden West currently sits two games behind the Pirates in the PCC so a win for the Rustlers would bring them right back into the conference picture.