First Place on Line for OCC, Rustlers

Orange Coast and Golden West meet Wednesday in an Orange Empire Conference men’s volleyball match that will break a first-place tie.

Orange Coast comes into the 7:30 p.m. match with a 12-1 record in conference and the No. 1 ranking in the state. The Pirates’ only loss came against Los Angeles Pierce.

Golden West, the two-time defending state champion, has a record of 12-1, with the only loss coming in four games to Orange Coast. Golden West is the state’s No. 2 team.

The winner of the match will have a one-match lead with three left. The winner of the conference gets an automatic berth in the state tournament April 25-26 at Golden West.

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New coach: Matt Murphy has been selected to restart the Golden West women’s basketball program with the help of former Golden West coach Dick Stricklin.

Golden West didn’t field a team last season because of lack of players.

Murphy, who was the girls’ varsity coach at Pacifica the last two years, will work as a walk-on. Stricklin, who helped establish the program as one of the best in the state, returns after a two-year sabbatical. Stricklin helped Golden West to two state titles and 11 conference titles in his 17 seasons.

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State basketball: The 1998 men’s and women’s state basketball tournament will be played at UC Irvine. The tournament is March 12-14. The first round of the women’s tournament is March 12 at Concordia.

The rest of the tournament will be at the Bren Center at UC Irvine.

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Rowing: Orange Coast’s junior varsity eight boat finished third in the Grand Final at the San Diego Crew Classic on Sunday in Mission Bay.

Washington won the 2,000-meter race in 6 minutes 23.59 seconds. Yale (6:25.52) was second and OCC’s time was 6:34.76.

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Important games ahead: Rancho Santiago, which has dominated the Orange Empire Conference baseball race so far, faces its closest two competitors in its next four conference games.

The Dons (30-2-1), 13-1) host second-place Saddleback (27-5, 10-5) at 2:30 p.m. Thursday. The teams meet at noon Saturday at Golden West.

Rancho Santiago then meets third-place Cypress (27-5-1, 8-5) at Cypress April 12 and at Rancho Santiago April 14.