Coats Spurs Pierce to Another Title Run

Dhiraj Coats has felt the thrill of victory and the agony of . . . victory?

Two years ago, Coats played outside hitter on the Pierce College men’s volleyball team that lost in the state championship match.

Last season, the former Royal High standout was academically ineligible and forced to watch the final from the sidelines when the Brahmas won the title.

“I was happy for the guys, but it was pretty rough to see it and not be able to be on the roster,” Coats said.

Coats is no longer a spectator. He is the captain and catalyst for Pierce (17-0), which meets Santa Barbara (11-7) in a state tournament semifinal tonight at 8 at Long Beach City College. The winner advances to the final against Orange Coast or El Camino on Saturday at 7 p.m.

The Brahmas defeated Santa Barbara twice on their way to the South Coast Conference title, but were pushed to five games by the Vaqueros in the first match on March 9.

Pierce defeated El Camino, the SCC runner-up, twice and Orange Coast in five games on March 23.

Coats leads Pierce with 188 kills and 42 digs, topping the SCC with .321 aces per game.

“If there was one guy I leaned on this year, it was [Coats],” said second-year Coach Greg Vernovage, who played at Pepperdine and helped the Waves win the 1992 NCAA title. “He’s emotionally strong and I leaned on him for that. He’s physically strong and I leaned on him for that. He needed to lead by example.”

Coats, a strong candidate for SCC most valuable player, has done the job on the court and in the classroom. He has played in 56 of 59 games after sitting out last year as a redshirt because of academic deficiencies.

But he is not the only one helping the Brahmas make a run at their third state championship.

Setter Dave Kniffin, a transfer from Loyola Marymount, and outside hitters Erik Gomez and Brandon Butchart, and middle blocker Casey Rosdail have contributed to a team with only two part-time starters from last year’s squad.

Kniffin led the SCC with 600 assists, Gomez has 93 kills and 20 blocks, and Butchart, from Quartz Hill, has 113 kills. Rosdail, from Alemany, has 107 kills and a team-high 37 blocks.

It is not a particularly tall team, with 6-foot-9 middle blocker Matt Shubin, a transfer from Loyola Marymount, the tallest player. Rosdail is 6-5, Kniffin is 6-2 and Coats, Gomez and Butchart are 6-3. But they make up with quickness and smarts what they lack in height.

“We concentrate on playing a complete game,” Vernovage said. “This group definitely plays mentally tough.”

The Brahmas, 14-4 last year, face the double pressure of chasing a championship and the program’s first undefeated season.

Pierce was 20-0 before being swept by Orange Coast in the 1994 state final.

“The pressure does build,” Kniffin said. “The next match becomes the toughest match. We just have to look toward the next match and not lose focus. If we lose, everything’s over.”

Steve McKeown, a 6-4 sophomore libero from Calabasas and arguably the team’s most intense player, said there are even more recent precedents to remind the Brahmas about not looking too far ahead.

“Long Beach was the better team by far last season and they lost [in the semifinals],” McKeown said. “We don’t want to make that mistake.”

Coats, perhaps more than anyone on the team, doesn’t want any slip-ups. He nearly enrolled at Moorpark three years ago with the idea of starting a club team before being steered toward Pierce, where he came oh-so-close to playing on a state champion.

This is his last go-around with the Brahmas and he wants to go out in style.

“I’ve played in a lot of playoff matches,” Coats said. “Whatever I have to do to be on the court, I’ll do. I just come to win.”