Six former Pirates moving on
COSTA MESA -- Six members of last year's men's volleyball state championship team will be continuing their athletic and academic careers at the four-year level, with five earning Division I opportunities.
Sophomore outside hitter and State Finals MVP, Sebastian Lara (UC San Diego), libero/outside hitter Hide Nakamura (UCLA), libero Tyler Vedder (Concordia University), middle blocker Niall Finnegan (Cal State Northridge), outside hitter Noah Pak (Long Island University) and setter William Rice (University of Jamestown) have all signed and will move on after a successful career at OCC. Another member of the Pirate program (but who did not play), Joe Wallace, will move on to UC Santa Barbara.
Lara was the Orange Empire Conference's Co-Most Valuable Player and finished his 2023 campaign with 245 kills (fourth-most in the state) to go along with 65 digs and 28 service aces (ninth-most in the state).
Nakamura showed why he was on UCLA's radar from Day 1. As a libero, he had a team-best 154 digs (seventh-most in the state) before showing off his athletic ability on the outside, where he 13 kills, including eight in the state championship finals against Long Beach City College.
Vedder played in all 21 matches for OCC this year and had 93 digs in 2023 to go along with his 94 kills he had when he was a member of Coast's 2022 state championship squad of 2022.
Finnegan was a solid freshman middle blocker, who racked up 74 kills and 40 total blocks for the Pirates this past season.
Pak showed the ridiculous depth of the Pirates, coming off of the bench to contribute 40 kills, 30 digs and 12 aces in just 32 sets played.
Rice also came through in a supporting role for OCC, playing in 37 sets and recording 99 assists, 11 digs and a pair of service aces.
This year's crop of now-former Pirates adds to the astounding collection of standout athletes who have not only helped create a consistently dominant program at OCC, but have also flourished at the four-year level, playing for some of the elite programs at the Division I level.
