Pirates to face Olympians for state volleyball crown

COSTA MESA -- It is going to be a historic night of men's volleyball, no matter which team proves victorious as the top-seeded and two-time defending champion Orange Coast College Pirates take on San Diego Mesa in the finals of the 3C2A Men's Volleyball State Championships on Saturday inside OCC's Peterson Gym, beginning at 7 p.m.

A win by the third-seeded Olympians (21-4) over the top-seeded Pirates (19-0) would be the first such title in men's volleyball in school history, while knocking the defending champs off the top of the mountain along the way.

A win by the Pirates over the Olympians would not give the state its first three-peat champion since L.A. Pierce won four straight from 2000-03, but it would also be the 10th state title in program history and the 100th all-time state/national title in school history.

"We just need to follow out charting and game plans," sophomore setter Landon Seymour said. "It's going to boil down to serving and passing and how well each team can score points in transition. Mesa brings some good energy, but they feed off of other team's energy as well. We are really good at staying level-headed and responding to runs and that's exactly what we're going to have to do. We'll weather some storms and put some balls away and hopefully, Mesa will have a tough night."

Seymour, team captain of this year's squad, joins teammate Jace Fukushima as the distributors of the Pirate offense. The sophomore setter has 361 assists, while the freshman Fukushima has 224 for a combined total of 585. The numbers are high because the Pirates are loaded with slugging talent throughout the lineup and leading the way this year has been sophomore Cole Hauser, who enters Saturday's final with 150 kills, 66 digs and 30 total blocks. Hauser picked up 11 kills to lead Coast in Thursday's 25-20, 25-16, 25-22 state semifinal win over Long Beach City College.

Close behind Hauser is fellow sophomore Myles Henderson, who has 134 kills, 70 digs and a team-best 29 service aces. Against the Vikings, Henderson put up a solid night with six kills, three digs and four block assists.

On the right side, Kam Vakilian joins his two teammates in the 100-kill club with 111 to go along with 29 digs and 50 total blocks (team-best), while in the middle, keep an eye on sophomore Andrew Robbins (71 kills, 40 total blocks) and freshman Jacob Surrette (50 kills, .597 hitting percentage, 41 total blocks).

For the Olympians, they topped Golden West College in four sets (25-14, 24-26, 25-22, 25-18) to earn their first-ever trip to the title match and head coach David Proffitt has his squad playing their best volleyball and the absolute perfect time.

In the win over the Rustlers, Patrick Buckel had 16 kills and five block assists, while Ricardo Lorja added 14 kills. Julian Montes and Trevor Clark each slammed down eight kills, while setters Logan Shepard and Colton Pillsbury combined for 41 assists in the win for the 2024 Pacific Coast League champs and winners of 12 of their last 13 matches.

This is the third meeting between the two schools but both teams have improved tremendously since the beginning of the season. Coast played at Mesa College on Feb. 7 and swept past the Olympians, 25-16, 25-20, 26-24. Two weeks later at OCC, it was another three-set sweep for the Pirates, this time 25-20, 25-13, 25-19.

However, that second match was played without the services of Buckel, who  has come strong of late with 107 kills ... one of FIVE Mesa players with 100-or-more kills. Freshman Trevor Clark leads the way with 202 kills, with Lorja (173), Julian Montes (135), T.J. Letuligasenoa (128) and Brandon Underwood (100) giving the Olympians more than enough offensive options to chose from. 

Live streaming of the state finals can be purchased by click here.