Pirates shine in sweep over Hornets

COSTA MESA -- The Orange Coast College women's volleyball team took care of business on Friday night inside the Peterson Gym with a three-set sweep over visiting Fullerton, topping the Hornets, 25-14, 25-16, 25-23.

Sierra Brown had 10 kills to lead the Pirates (10-4, 5-4 in Orange Empire Conference). Megan Ritchie dished out 27 assists, while Carina Perez slowed down Fullerton's attack with 27 digs.

Madalene Barrett had eight kills and Celeste Snider added 20 digs to lead the Hornets (12-14, 5-4).

The win helps the Pirates draw even with the Hornets for fourth place in the Orange Empire Conference standings and helps exact a bit of revenge following their previous matchup -- a four-set win for the Hornets back on Oct. 9 at FC.

It was all OCC early in the opening set as three kills from Hayley Martin and three straight hitting errors by the Hornets helped Coast jump out to a 13-5 lead. The lead continued to grow as kills from six different Coast players helped the hosts cruise in the opener.

The second set was a carbon copy of the first set as contributions from several Pirates and more hitting woes for the Hornets helped OCC jump out to comfortable lead and never looked back. Fullerton pulled to within six at 22-16, but a wide serve, a wide return and a Brown kill helped give Coast a two-set lead.

It appeared to be more of the same as OCC jumped out to an 11-4 lead, behind four kills by Megan Rawlings and three by Brown, but the Hornets ripped off five straight points to get back into the third set. Two big kills by Barrett and another put-away by Kelsey Smith led the Fullerton charge.

Both teams traded points until a pair of long returns by Coast helped Cypress draw to within a point at 15-14.

Two kills by Brown and a pair by Kayla Meyer helped give OCC a 24-21 lead before a kill by Shawna Chung and a long return brought the Hornets back to within a point at 24-23.

Following an OCC timeout, Brown made sure the Hornets would not climb all the way back with an emphatic kill attempt that could not be returned, ending the match.

Coast will return to action on Wednesday at Golden West College (6 p.m.). OCC next home match will be on Friday against Riverside City College (7 p.m.)