COMMUNITY COLLEGE VOLLEYBALL : Orange Coast Wins Final Match Despite Losing Lyles

Orange Coast College’s Matt Lyles watched in tears from the sideline after spraining his left ankle only a point into Friday night’s Community College volleyball championship match at Santa Monica College.

However, Lyles’ teammates filled in admirably in the absence of the Long Beach State-bound sophomore. The top-ranked Pirates (22-2) successfully defended their final four title and third in four years with a 14-16, 15-13, 15-6, 15-6 victory over Santa Barbara City.

“We were pretty bummed after he went down,” Craig Buccola said of the 6-foot-3 outside hitter who had led the team in kills. “It was a big loss, but we just played out of our minds and won it.”

Buccola, an all-South Coast Conference selection, paced Orange Coast with 22 kills and Lance Lyons had 21. Brad Friesen had five blocks.

“It was just a great team victory,” Orange Coast Coach Bob Wetzel said. “(Lyons) just had an incredible night after Matt went down.”

Orange Coast led 10-6 in the fourth game, and then reeled off five unanswered points to clinch the victory.

The Pirates broke a 4-4 tie in the third game, and scored six consecutive points to take a 10-4 lead. Sean DeLapp’s back-row shot went long to give the game to Orange Coast.

Santa Barbara (20-4) raced to a 4-0 lead in the second game, but Orange Coast came back to tie it, 6-6. Orange Coast went ahead 11-6 and then held on.

Orange Coast led, 14-9, and served for game point five times in the first game. However, Santa Barbara tied the score, 14-14, on David Scrivner’s cross-court spike and went on to complete a 7-0 run.