Pirates earn No. 10 seed -- will play at Santa Barbara in SoCal Regional opener

COSTA MESA -- The Orange Coast College women's volleyball team was seeded 10th in the Southern California Regional playoff seedings and will head up to Santa Barbara City College to face the seventh-seeded Vaqueros on Tuesday night, beginning at 7 p.m.

The Pirates (14-6) finished tied for fourth place in the Orange Empire Conference, joining Irvine Valley (No. 1 seed), Cypress (No. 3 seed), Golden West (No. 5 seed) and Fullerton (No. 9 seed) in the playoff hunt.

The Vaqueros (20-5) earned the No. 7 seed after winning the Western State Conference's North Division (11-1 in conference). The winner of Tuesday's match will face the winner of the Ventura-Grossmont match on Saturday night.

Coast has been led offensively for the past two seasons by sophomore outside hitter Sierra Brown, who enters Tuesday's match with 188 kills, 146 digs and 20 aces. Close behind is OCC's "other" Brown -- freshman Danyelle Brown -- who has notched 175 kills, 189 digs and 14 aces.

From the right side, freshman Lehua Alama-Jordan has given the Pirates depth on offense with 125 kills, 87 digs and 22 blocks, while up the middle, sophomore Kellie Kleszcz and freshman Kerrigan Hecht have combined for 161 kills and 55 blocks.

All of these offensive options begin from the setter position, which has been showcased by sophomore Danielle Boyette and her 597 assists, 24 aces and 24 blocks.

On defense, the Pirates have been anchored by sophomore standout Carina Perez, who has racked up 328 digs, 11th-best all time in school history and just nine digs away from cracking the top-10, ahead of recent OCC Hall of Fame honoree Kiwi Winkler's 337 digs in 2007.

For the Vaqueros, they are equipped with four outstanding offensive weapons -- freshman outside hitter Katelynn Womack (271 kills, 32 blocks, 27 aces), freshman OH Kaitlyn Clemann (182 kills), middle blocker Taylor Badois (164 kills, 70 blocks) and fellow MB Alissa LaRocca (105 kills, 39 blocks).

Pacing the offense is seter Madelon Leiphardt, who is eighth in the state with 780 assists, while libero Eryn Young anchors the defense with 304 digs.