Pirates sweep past Lasers in State Semifinals

ORANGE -- The Orange Coast College men's volleyball team took care of business on Wednesday night, sweeping past Irvine Valley College, 25-20, 25-18, 25-20, in the 2014 California Community College Athletic Association Men's Volleyball State Championship semifinals, played at Santiago Canyon College.

With the win, the Pirates (19-1), champions of the Pacific Coast Conference, have earned a trip to the championship match, where they will face the Santa Monica City College Corsairs (14-6), who upset the Western State Conference Champion El Camino, 25-19, 25-19, 25-19 in the earlier semifinal matchup. The Pirates and Corsairs will play on Friday night, beginning at 7 p.m. at Santiago Canyon College.

Following a one-week layoff, the Pirates took to the SCC floor and played the same consistent, steady volleyball they've played throughout the 2014 season.

"One thing that's valuable to us is our depth," OCC head coach Travis Turner said. "All week, we've been scrimmaging each other and it's almost as intense as any match we have all season, so that's a huge asset for us."

Sophomore Ty Hutchins led the Coast offense with 20 kills , while Jim Webb added 12 from the right side. The middle blocker combination of Nick Amado and Scott Metrakos notched 10 kills on just 14 attempts and Brandon Dau added four kills to further illustrate the depth of the OCC offense.

Setter Brendan Duff dished out 42 assists, while Ryan Manoogian notched eight digs to anchor OCC's 28-dig performance.

Friday's matchup with the Corsairs is the 15th trip to the state championship match for the Pirates, as they try and notched their sixth state men's volleyball championship (1987, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1994).

Coast opened the match with a pair of 5-1 runs and led 17-10 over the Lasers (13-8). Hutchins notched four kills, Webb notched three kills and Amado added two more over that span.

IVC crept back into the first set with a 5-1 run of its own, trimming the deficit to 18-15 before Coast regrouped and ripped off four straight points to regain control of things.

In the second set, the Lasers jumped out to a 9-5 lead before the Pirates answered back with a 14-4 outburst to grab hold of the lead for good. Five Hutchins kills and and a block and kill from Dau helped give Coast a 19-13 lead and a stranglehold on the second set.

Both teams went back and forth through the early parts of the third set. Finally, with the score deadlocked at 12, kills by Dau, Hutchins (2), Webb and Metrakos and a pair of aces by Duff vaulted Coast ahead 19-12.

Once again, IVC fought back and got back to within three at 22-19, but Coast held on for the straight-set victory and a matchup with SMCC.

The Pirates and Corsairs played each other on Jan. 31 and Coast prevailed at OCC, 25-23, 25-22, 25-19. "Santa Monica is a tough team," Turner said. "They're definitely not a third-place type of team, that's for sure. We're going to have to be ready to play our best against them."