Pixler’s Journey From the Desert to the Coast Has Helped OCC Excel in Volleyball

Mike Pixler is the first to admit he didn’t perform very well at a tryout for the Orange Coast men’s volleyball team last December.

He had come from Phoenix with two friends--Darin McBain and Rob Cammarata--looking for a chance to make the team.

Coach Chuck Cutenese asked Pixler to rank his performance in the tryout on a scale of 1 to 10 and Pixler said it was “about a four.”

But Cutenese saw a great deal of ability and Pixler is now starting at outside hitter for Orange Coast (15-1, 12-1), which is tied for first with San Diego Mesa in the Orange Empire Conference.

“I told them I was looking at their potential and not how well they did,” Cutenese said. “And I thought they all had a chance to make the team.”

Pixler, who also loves playing volleyball on the beach, persuaded his friends to return to OCC, enroll and go out for the team in January.

“I had about two weeks to prove that I could play here,” Pixler said. “I really busted my butt and did it.”

Once accomplished, he and McBain (who is a redshirt) and Cammarata (who also made the team) got an apartment near the college.

Pixler, 22, played volleyball at Tolleson High in Phoenix, where he graduated in 1991. He then took two years off to work and save money for college.

He did maintenance for a helicopter company that ran tours in the desert. He started classes at Arizona State two years later and played club volleyball as well during that time.

He was an All-American at the Club Nationals in 1994 and realized he wanted the chance to play in college.

Last season, he and his friends were playing club volleyball at Glendale (Ariz.) College. But they were looking for a higher level of competition and had heard about Orange Coast and decided to give it a try.

“His skills at the start of the season were not as refined as they are right now,” Cutenese said. “Now, he’s really playing the volleyball he’s capable of playing.”

This is good news for OCC, which has two vital matches at home this week. The Pirates host Grossmont at 7 p.m. Wednesday, then has a first-place showdown with San Diego Mesa at 7 p.m. Friday.

*

Softball: Cypress (33-11, 10-2) leads the Orange Empire Conference standings but the margin is hardly comfortable.

The Chargers, who went 11-1 in two spring-break tournaments last week, hold a one-game lead over Fullerton (25-8, 9-3) and Saddleback (25-15, 9-3) and are two games up on defending champion Rancho Santiago (25-15, 8-4). There are nine games left in the conference race.

Cypress faces its closest competition this week. The Chargers are at Fullerton at 3 p.m. Wednesday and host Saddleback at 3 p.m. Friday.

*

Women’s tennis: Saddleback, the top-ranked team in the state, can earn a share of the Orange Empire Conference title with a victory at Orange Coast Thursday.

Saddleback (13-1, 8-1) goes in one match behind Fullerton (9-2, 9-1), which already has completed its conference schedule.

Fullerton and Saddleback split their matches this season with Fullerton winning, 5-4, and Saddleback winning, 6-3.

*

Baseball: Rancho Santiago (24-7, 8-5) and Saddleback (18-10, 7-6), which are in second and third place in the Orange Empire Conference, meet at 2:30 p.m. today at Rancho Santiago.

The teams trail first-place Cypress (25-9, 10-4), which has a bye today. Cypress then has a key home-and-home series with Fullerton starting Thursday at Cypress.

*

Irvine Valley’s Josh Porter has signed a letter of intent to attend Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Irvine Valley men’s basketball Coach Jerry Hernandez said.

Porter, a forward from Mater Dei High, averaged 18 points and six rebounds. Porter was a two-time All-Orange Empire Conference selection.

*

More sports: Orange Coast will add women’s water polo and women’s golf this fall.

Gordie Fitzel, who stepped down as the college’s cross-county coach after last season, will be the golf coach.

The college has yet to select an interim women’s water polo coach. Don Watson, the OCC women’s swimming coach, will be the women’s water polo coach in 1997 after returning from a sabbatical.