Pierce Has Another Top-of-the-Class Contender : Volleyball: But Brahma sweep over Santa Monica is tempered by a knee injury to star player.

If a poll was kept for state junior college men’s volleyball teams, Pierce College could stake a claim to the top spot in the rankings.

The Brahmas showed they are again a strong contender for a state title with a 15-5, 15-4, 16-14 victory over Santa Monica in a South Coast Conference match Friday night at Taft High.

Pierce won state championships in 1986, ’88 and ‘92, and finished second last season.

And now the Brahmas (14-2, 13-2) seem poised for another run at reaching the Final Four tournament at Irvine Valley, where they would surely face stiffer competition than Santa Monica.

The Corsairs (6-9, 5-4 in conference play) came alive in the third game but were clearly outclassed.

However, the victory might have come with a price.

Middle blocker Kevin Barnett, a 6-foot-6 sophomore who earlier this week signed to play at Pepperdine next season, suffered a knee injury early in the third game and did not return.

Coach Ken Stanley said the extent of Barnett’s injury would be determined in the next few days.

“Without him, we are in deep trouble,” Stanley said.

Barnett made 13 kills and had six blocks to complement outside hitter Jason Ring, who had a team-high 18 kills.

Pierce cruised in the first game, turning a 2-2 deadlock into a 10-2 advantage with blazing spikes and outstanding defense at the net. Ring had seven kills in the game and Barnett had eight.

The second game was almost a carbon copy. The Brahmas took advantage of numerous hitting and passing errors by Santa Monica. Many of the points came off short serves that wreaked havoc with the Corsair defense.

“We tried to serve them short so they would have to set the ball outside and we put our best blockers out there,” Stanley said. “We just got into a rhythm.”

Phil Hong, a 6-foot sophomore, provided most of the Santa Monica offense. He finished with a match-high 20 kills.