Pirates topple Santa Barbara in five to punch ticket to State Finals!

COSTA MESA -- The Orange Coast College women's volleyball team will party like it's 2009 as the Pirates return to the CCCAA State Finals after topping Santa Barbara City College in five sets on Saturday night at the Southern California Regional Finals inside the Peterson Gym.

A battle that took nearly two-and-half hours to complete, the fifth-seeded Pirates (21-5) needed every ounce of talent against the free-and-easy, 13th-seeded Vaqueros (16-11) to pull off a 26-28, 26-24, 25-20, 18-25, 15-13 marathon win to punch the first ticket into the state's Big Dance.

The California Community College Athletic Association Women's Volleyball State Tournament will kick off on Friday at Fresno City College with a time and an opponent to be announced. Be sure to log onto www.occpirateathletics.com for the latest state championship information as it becomes available.

Brisa Zapata-Reaves led the Pirates with 17 kills and a season-high 32 digs, while Emma Honea added 12 kills and Paige Cutwright knocked down 11 kills to go with six total blocks. Leah Thibault added eight kills and Kingsley Mason chipped in six. For the Vaqueros, Caroline McCarty led the way with 19 kills.

In the middle, Natalia Brandlin was a wall for the Pirates with eight total blocks. Setter Grace Holmgren dished out 31 assists to go along with 13 digs and Emily Payne notched 30 digs.

Coast carried things through the opening set and led 24-19 before the Vaqueros, who stunned No. 4-seed San Diego Mesa just a few nights earlier in a five-set thriller, calmly punched away at every set-point thrown against them. Coast tried to slow things down their their timeouts, but to no avail as the Vaqueros ripped off six points and carried a 25-24 advantage. A wide SBCC serve and a Zapata-Reaves kill gave Coast its seventh set-point opportunity and again, the Vaqueros stayed alive as a wide OCC return evened the score at 26. An ace off the top of the net from Ava Guenther -- SBCC's second net-ace in a four-point span down the stretch -- gave the Vaqueros a 27-26 lead and another wide return by the Pirates gave SBCC a shocking 1-0 lead in the match.

The Pirates appeared to shrug off the stunning opening-set setback and jumped out to a 19-14 lead in the second set ... but SBCC used more late-set heroics to grab a 24-22 lead and was one point away from a commanding two-set lead.

But Thibault, OCC's best server of the year had the opportunity to keep OCC in the match. Trailing 24-23, the freshman calmly baffled the Vaqueros with back-to-back aces to put the Pirates out in front, 25-24. On the following point, SBCC hit it wide and OCC evened the match at a set apiece with a 26-24 win.

In the third set, Coast clamped down early and did not let the Vaqueros to creep back into things as the hosts jumped out to a 13-4 advantage and never looked back. Five different Pirate hitters knocked down key kills to give OCC a 25-20 win and a 2-1 lead in the match.

Santa Barbara picked up some momentum in the fourth set. Leading 8-7, the guests went on an 8-2 run to grab a 16-9 advantage. Coast got to within four at 10-16, but the Vaqueros closed things out with a 5-2 run to even the match and send things to a winner-take-all fifth set.

In that race-to-15 fifth set, neither team carried a lead bigger than two points throughout the duration of the finale. In a set that saw five lead changes, both teams were using their heavy hitters down the stretch with McCarty for SBCC and Zapata-Reaves taking most of the hits. 

Finally, with the set tied at 11, a pair of Zapata-Reaves kills gave OCC a 13-11 lead, forcing SBCC into a timeout.

Heidi Collins had a kill for Santa Barbara to make it 13-12 and had an opportunity to even things up, but Cutwright stepped up and blocked the next SBCC hitting opportunity to put Coast up, 14-12. Another SBCC kill brought the Vaqueros to within one at 14-13, but after an OCC timeout, the next Santa Barbara serve sailed long and that ended the match and sent the Pirates into the State Finals for the first time since winning it all back in 2009.