Coast wins home opener by topping Ventura

COSTA MESA -- The Orange Coast College women's volleyball used a well-executed gameplan to chop down the bigger Ventura College Pirates in a four-game win on Friday inside the Peterson Gym.

Joey Payan and Nika Safavi each had 10 kills for the OCC Pirates (2-1), while the guest Pirates (1-2) used its height across the lineup to rack up 14 total blocks, but the Coast execution on offense and its passing on defense proved to be the difference makers. Pacing the OCC Pirate offense was sophomore setter Jordan Packer, who dished out 30 assists.

In the opening set, it was a battle of "runs" for both teams. With the set tied a 6, a 5-2 jolt by Ventura put VC ahead, 11-8 before Coast countered with an 8-1 run of its own to regain a 16-12 advantage. Strong serves from Caroline Vasquez and key blocks by Caprie Troccoli were highlighted in that early Coast outburst.

OCC extended its lead to five at 23-18 before Ventura used three kills by Daphne Raymond to highlight a 5-0 run to tie things up at 23.

But the host Pirates used a pair of Ventura errors to grab the final two points of the set and win 25-23.

Coast trailed early in the second set (11-13) before using a 9-1 run to grab the lead for good and take a 2-0 sets lead in the match. A pair of Safavi kills and a pair of Payan aces were the difference in that pivotal swing of the set for OCC.

But Ventura would not go away quietly. Trailing 9-8 early in the third set, VC ripped off 14-3 run and never looked back to force the match into a fourth set.

Coast would make sure early on there would be no thoughts of a fifth set, jumping out to a 14-4 lead and cruising to victory from there. Several VC errors, combined with three kills from Safavi and three from Payan helped give Coast all the early momentum it would need to end the match in four hard-fought sets against a solid Ventura College squad.

The Pirates will return to action on Wednesday at home against El Camino College, beginning at 5 p.m.