Pirates sweep past Jamestown

COSTA MESA -- Apparently our crew programs aren't the only ones who take on and defeat four-year colleges. The Orange Coast College men's volleyball team needed just over an hour to sweep past NAIA standout, the University of Jamestown (N.D.), 25-22, 25-23, 25-18, on Monday night.

With former Pirate players Braden Neumann and Clark Steele returning to the Peterson Gym to take on their former school, it was the host Pirates (7-4) who took care of business against the Jimmies (10-3), hitting .403 as a team, the highest they've hit all season long.

Caden Saterfield and Will Anderson each had eight kills for Coast, while Troy Culp and James Carpenter each added five. Setter Kohl Kutsch was strong on both sides of the net with six total blocks and 28 assists.

Steele, a member of last year's State Final Four team (along with Neumann) that finished 22-1, led the Jimmies with 13 kills, while Neumann had seven digs as the team's libero.

The Jimmies took advantage of some sloppy OCC serves early on and carried an 8-7 lead in the opening set before Coast used a 9-3 run to lead, 16-11. That lead remained comfortable at 23-18 before a last-second run by Jamestown tripped things to 23-21. But, a long serve by the Jimmies (the 14th service error combined for both teams in the opening set) and a kill by Saterfield took care of the opening set for the Pirates as they won, 25-22.

It was another rally for the Pirates in the second as they turned an 18-16 deficit into a 22-20 lead with Anderson leading the 6-2 run with a pair of kills. Again, Jamestown used another late run to even the set at 23 before a kill by Saterfield and a hitting error by the Jimmies gave OCC the two-point win and a 2-0 lead in the match.

Coast trailed 14-10 in the third set before going on a 9-2 run to led, 19-16, highlighted by a kill and an ace from middle blocker Al Hussein.

The Jimmies picked up a kill from Steele to make it 19-17 before the Pirates pulled away for good, scoring five straight points with a Saterfield ace, an Anderson kill, a duo block by Culp and Carter Depue, an ace by Saterfield and a service error by the Jimmies. Finally, a Depue kill ended the match and gave the Pirates the win.

OCC kicks off Orange Empire Conference action on Friday at Fullerton College, beginning at 6 p.m. OCC's next home match will be on Friday, March 20 against Santiago Canyon, also at 6 p.m.