Pirates sweep past Cougars in Regional playoff

COSTA MESA -- It's playoff time and the Orange Coast College women's volleyball team took their game to another level, routing the visiting College of the Canyons Cougars in the second round of the 3C2A Southern California Regional Playoffs on Tuesday inside the Peterson Gym.

Led by 15 kills from Nika Safavi, the fifth-seeded Pirates (24-2) rolled to a 25-6, 25-17, 25-14 win over the 12th-seeded Cougars (16-10). 

With the win, the Pirates will travel to Sylmar to take on the No. 4 seed, the L.A. Mission College Eagles (26-4) on Saturday, beginning at 6 p.m. with the winner advancing to the 3C2A Women's Volleyball State Championships Dec. 6-8 at Mt. San Antonio College.

Jordan Packer had 30 assists and four of OCC's three aces, while Kennedy Cutler added five kills.

The momentum of the entire match was claimed by the host Pirates in the opening set as the Cougars could not find an answer to the barrage of points scored by OCC, who led at one point by a score of 21-3. Coast slammed down nine kills and had three aces during that run and the Pirates were off and running.

The Cougars, champions of the Western State Conference's South Division, regrouped and found some early success in the second set, leading 9-8 with strong serves coming from Celeste Amaya and Sophia Aranzazu.

But, a 10-3 OCC run turned the tides on the second set and from there, the Orange Empire Conference champs held on for the 25-17 win and a 2-0 lead in the match.

It was more of the same in the third set when a 13-13 tie vanished in the wake of a 12-1 finish for Coast, capped off with three aces in a row from Packer to wrap things up.

For the Eagles, runners-up in the Western State's North Division, they started 2024 a perfect 16-0 and are four botched fifth sets away from a perfect season. LAMC's go-to hitter is Oluwatoyin Sunday, who leads the Eagles with 346 kills, with Tawnie Ohrt close behind at 331.