Pirates shake off rust, sweep past pesky Hornets

COSTA MESA -- The Orange Coast College men's volleyball team shook off a week's worth of rust, survived a strong start by visiting Fullerton College and swept past the Hornets, 28-26, 25-17, 25-13, on Wednesday night inside the Peterson Gym.

With a seven-day gap between the matches, the Pirates (12-1, 2-0 in Orange Empire Conference) struggled early before finding their rhythm as the contest wore on. Jordan Hoppe led Coast with 14 kills, Justin Kam added nine kills and Bradley Hankus chipped in six. Chris Young and Chase Moothart each had five digs for OCC, while setters Colby Elder and Jacob Gilliam combined for 30 assists.

For the Hornets (10-5, 2-1), Javier Zavala led the way with seven kills, Manny Andrade added six and Kyle Young knocked down five.

The Hornets, who are in their first year as a men's volleyball program, came out swinging early and took advantage of several OCC miscues and led throughout most of the opening set. Coast got things back to even at 16 before a 5-2 run pushed the Hornets back up, 21-18, forcing the Pirates into a timeout.

Coast responded with three straight points, including kills by Kam and Hoppe, to tie the set back up at 21, but a kill by Zavala and a wide return had the Hornets two points away from taking the opening set.

Kam ripped a kill and a pair of strong serves by Austin Marriott helped give OCC its first lead of the set, 24-23. Fullerton fought off three set-point situations before back-to-back Hoppe kills enabled the Pirates to win the set, 28-26.

From there, Coast picked things up and controlled things the rest of the way. In the second set, OCC used an 11-6 run to grab the early lead and a 6-2 run to pad its advantage to 19-12. Kam and Marriott closed things out with some strong hitting as the Pirates grabbed a two-set lead in the match.

Both teams traded blows early in the third set before Coast turned a 9-8 lead into a blowout, thanks to a 8-2 run to grab control of things. 

The Pirates will return to action on Friday at Irvine Valley College in a battle between the top two teams in the state, beginning at 6 p.m. OCC's next home match will be on Wednesday against Santiago Canyon, also at 6 p.m.