Pirates go unbeaten in OEC with four-set win over Irvine Valley

COSTA MESA -- In last week's matchup between the top two teams in the Orange Empire Conference, the Orange Coast College men's volleyball team took care of business with a pair of four-set wins over rival Irvine Valley to go a perfect 8-0 in conference play.

On Friday inside the Peterson Gym, the host Pirates overcame a second-set hiccup and rolled past the Lasers, 25-18, 27-29, 25-20, 25-21, to top the OEC standings at a perfect 8-0. 

With the top spot in the OEC, the regular-season champion Pirates will play the winner of Tuesday's matchup between Golden West and Santiago Canyon in the semifinals of the OEC Tournament on Thursday, beginning at 6 p.m. inside the Peterson Gym. IVC (6-2, 5-2) will host Fullerton College in the other semifinal matchup on Thursday. The OEC Finals will take place on Wednesday, May. 26 at OCC. 

OCC's big-four hitters of Carter Depue, Troy Culp, Caden Satterfield and Calvin Sanborn combined for 55 kills against the Lasers. Depue led the way with 19 kills and just two errors with an impressive .586 hitting percentage. Culp (.588 hitting percentage), Sanborn (six digs, three aces) and Satterfield (six digs, two aces) each chipped in 12 kills. Setter Eric Beebe paced the OCC offense with a season-best 46 assists, while libero Cole Tran was all over the floor on defense, racking up a team-best 19 digs. 

In the opening set, Coast trailed 13-12 to the Lasers before taking flight and outscoring IVC 13-5 down the stretch to take the lead in the match. Aces by Depue and Beebe as well as a pair of kills by Depue helped spark that set-deciding rally.

It looked like Coast would take a 2-0 lead in the match as the Pirates carried a 22-20 lead late, but the Lasers used a well-timed 3-0 mini-run to grab the lead, 23-22. IVC had three set-point opportunities fought off by the Pirates, but finally picked up the final two points to prevail, 29-27, evening the match at a set apiece. 

Coast made sure there would be no such shenanigans the rest of the evening. In the third set, OCC jumped out to a 9-4 lead and never lost that advantage the rest of the set to win, 25-20. Depue, Culp and Sanborn each sparked the Pirate offense with four kills each during the third set.

In the fourth set, the Lasers applied the pressure and carried an 18-15 lead, forcing the Pirates into a timeout. Whatever was said during the break paid off in spades for the Pirates, who went on an 10-3 run to close things out. Depue again led the way with three kills during that run, while Culp controlled the middle with two big kills and two blocks. 

With the win on Friday, Coast has gone a perfect 32-0 in conference play, with four straight regular season titles since the OEC began it's volleyball run for the 2017 season.