Pirates fall in five to Vikings

COSTA MESA -- On the plus side, the Orange Coast College men's volleyball team is picking up weeks of experience with each long, grueling match, but in the end, it was another tough five-set defeat on Friday night inside the Peterson Gym.

The Pirates jumped out to a 2-1 lead in sets, only to see the visiting Vikings rally for a 26-24, 25-27, 15-25, 25-20, 18-16 win, giving Coast its second straight five-set loss to start the season.

Adrian Faitalia led the Pirates with 24 kills, while Nick Amado added 11 kills and five blocks. Bobby Kaae had nine digs to lead the defense, while in the middle, Ryan Clayton notched six blocks.

For the Vikings (2-0), Jeffrey Utupo notched 16 kills, 11 digs and six blocks, while Alfonso Mata added 15 kills and 14 digs and middle blocker Kingston Tafao came up big with 11 blocks.

Coast struggled down the stretch in the opening set. After leading 23-20, the Vikings responded with six of the next eight points. With OCC leading 24-23, Utupo earned a big block and an even bigger jump-serve ace to put LBCC up 25-24. A long OCC return gave the Vikings the opening set.

Again, the Pirates led 23-20 in the second set, only to see the Vikings fight back and even things at 25, courtesy of three Utopo kills and solo kills from Tafao and Alejandro Albarran.

But a long serve put Coast back out in front, 26-25, and Faitalia evened the match with a put-away to give Coast the second set.

It was more Pirate success in the third set as a 16-13 lead quickly expanded as Coast ended the third set on a 9-2 run to close things out.

Coast led 17-16 in the fourth set before Long Beach used a pair of 3-0 runs to grab the lead for good and force a fifth-and-deciding set.

In the 15-point fifth set, Coast came out strong and led 11-7, forcing the Vikings into a timeout.

Whatever was said during the break worked for the Vikings as they came out and used a kill and a block by Josh Nehls and a pair of OCC miscues to even the set at 11.

From there, both teams went back and forth, with Coast serving for the match on three separate occasions, but each time, the Vikings would even the set back up with key points.

Finally, with Coast ahead 16-15, a long Pirate serve, a OCC net return and a Coast wide return gave the match over to the Vikings.

OCC returns to action on Friday at Santa Monica City College, beginning at 6 p.m. OCC's next home match will be on Froday, Feb. 13 against Santa Barbara City College, also at 6 p.m.