Pirates return to state finals with sweep over Vikings

COSTA MESA – Death … taxes … and the Orange Coast College men's volleyball team in the 3C2A Men's Volleyball State Championship finals.

Some things seem to never change.

For the third straight year, the two-time defending state champion Pirates will shoot for three in a row after Thursday night's three-set sweep over Long Beach City College on Thursday night inside OCC's Peterson Gymnasium.

Cole Hauser had 11 kills to lead the way for the top-seeded Pirates (19-0) as they ended the season for the No. 4-seeded Vikings (13-7) for the third year in a row with a 25-20, 25-16, 25-22 win.

Hauser, ripped those 11 kills on just 19 attempts with only two hitting errors (a .474 hitting percentage), making the most of his offensive opportunities.

Myles Henderson added six kills and four block assists for OCC, while Kam Vakilian and Andrew Robbins each slammed down five kills. Landon Seymour dished out 16 assists for Coast, while libero Jacob Bayston anchored the defense with six digs.

"The atmosphere was amazing to play in," Vakilian said. "Not just on our side, but having people that root against me gets me even more fired up. OCC is such a tight community, especially in the athletics department, so having some some other teams come and support us is just as amazing to see. Having this finals in our gym makes it even better."

The bigger, stronger Pirates made the most of things on their home floor, notching 22 block assists as a team and hit an incredible .435 as a team with 36 kills with only six hitting errors.

For the Vikings Kameron Tufuga led the way with 10 kills, while Mohamed Benkrid added nine. Willy Wang had 24 assists, while the digs were led by Tufuga and Anthony Wong-Orantes with five each.

Coast did what Coast does best – grabbed a lead and never let the other team back into the set. OCC carried a five-point advantage (11-6) early in the first and managed to keep Long Beach from ever evening the score the rest of the way. LBCC could not rack up three points in a row throughout the opening set and the Pirates took a 1-0 lead in the match.

The Pirates kept their foot on the gas with their aggressive play and pulled ahead early on the Vikings in the second set, grabbing an 18-9 advantage. That was too much for Long Beach to battle back from and an emphatic kill from Hauser on set point provided the exclamation mark on the convincing 25-16 win in the second set.

For LBCC, the Peterson Gym guests pulled out all the stops in the third set and stayed close to the Pirates through most of the way, tying the set at 14 thanks to a kill from Benkrid.

But a mini 4-1 run by the Pirates pushed the hosts back out in front, 19-15, thanks to some unforced LBCC errors down the stretch.

With Coast ahead, 23-20, a pair of kills from Lucca Mamone and Shane Nhem forced OCC into a timeout as the Pirates clung to a 23-22 lead.

But a Hauser kill and a group block from Henderson, Nathan Diaz and Jacob Surrette sealed the deal and sent Coast back to the state finals, where they will face San Diego Mesa for all the marbles on Saturday, beginning at 7 p.m. OCC is hoping for Men's Volleyball championship No. 10 in their storied history and the 100^th state title in the history of the Orange Coast College athletics program.

"SD Mesa is a good time with a lot of big hitters," Vakilian said. "But I think if we keep our heads straight and not get too disappointed if something doesn't go our way, we should be fine."