Orange Coast’s Defense Produces Key Victory

Orange Coast proved practice makes perfect Friday in beating Long Beach in four games in one semifinal of the men’s volleyball state tournament at Golden West.

The Pirates played solid defense in the first two games and again in the fourth and won, 15-12, 15-6, 1-15, 15-12.

Orange Coast concentrated on defense the last two weeks, and Friday got seven blocks each from Kevin Reid and Josh Richardson and six from Jason Klems.

“That’s something we’ve really been focusing on,” Coach Chuck Cutenese said. “We’re big and we’re physical but we weren’t blocking a lot of balls. It was nice to see it pay off tonight.”

Orange Coast will need another strong defensive effort in the final at 7:30 tonight against two-time defending state champion Golden West, which swept American River in the other semifinal. It’s a rematch of last year’s final that Golden West won in five games. The teams split two matches this season, each going four games.

Orange Coast (20-2) rallied from a two-game deficit to beat Los Angeles Pierce in five Thursday in the Southern California playoffs and the Pirates took that same spirit into the match against Long Beach.

The teams were tied, 12-12, in the first game but the Pirates got the final three point, the last coming on a block by Klems to close out the game. Travis Conley served five consecutive points to give Orange Coast a 13-5 lead after trailing, 5-1.

Long Beach (16-3) cruised in the third game, 15-1. With Fernando Salba serving in the final game, the Pirates scored five consecutive points to take a 10-5 lead.

Long Beach got within a point, 13-12, but the Pirates won a sideout on a savage kill by Reid, who powered the ball through two defenders. Salba then made a great dig and Darin McBain got the kill and the Pirates led, 14-12. The final point came on a Long Beach hitting error. Reid finished with 22 kills and McBain added 11.

In the other semifinal:

Golden West 3, American River 0--Scott Lane had a team-high 14 kills despite suffering a minor ankle injury in practice Thursday, and Rustlers won, 15-4, 15-10, 15-5.

It was the 17th consecutive victory this season for Golden West (18-1).

Chris Kosty added 10 kills and Phil Domingo came off the bench to get eight for Golden West.