Grossmont Gets Pierced in State Semifinals

The way Grossmont College ran over Pierce in the first game of the men’s volleyball state semifinal Friday night, anyone could have predicted the outcome.

But they probably would have been wrong.

The Brahmas did a complete turnaround after a quick wake-up call, and defeated Grossmont, 4-15, 15-11, 15-2, 15-7, at Irvine Valley College and advanced to the state title match tonight against Golden West.

The Rustlers got past Long Beach in five games in the other semifinal and will take on Pierce in the final for the second consecutive year.

Last season Golden West topped Pierce in five games, something that’s fresh on many of the Brahmas’ minds.

“Now we try for revenge from last year,” said Lance Walker of Pierce, who had a game-high 28 kills.

Yoni Shalev added 14 kills and Beau Daniels had 58 assists, also for the Brahmas.

Pierce (14-4) made 10 errors in the first game alone, leading to eight Grossmont points.

The Brahmas’ nerves calmed, however, and the rest of the match was a different story.

“The first game we had the jitters,” Walker said. “Every team gets them, and we had them.

“In the second game things just clicked. I don’t know what happened. It’s like we know we had to pick it up.”

The Pierce passing game got going when Daniels started spreading the ball all over the court, which also spread the Grossmont defense.

Matt Olson and Gary Jensen each had 20 kills for Grossmont (15-2). Grossmont began double-teaming Walker, which opened up other options for Daniels’ set.

Just as Pierce’s passing got better, Grossmont’s overall game got worse. The Griffins committed six service errors in the second game and five in the third.

Pierce will try for its fourth state title in school history tonight at 7. The last time Pierce won the title was 1988 when it defeated Long Beach.