Los Angeles Pierce and Orange Coast advanced to the title match of the
2001 Hyundai/California Community College Men's Volleyball Championship
by posting three-game victories in semifinal matches Friday night.
Defending state champion Pierce (18-0) defeated South Coast Conference
rival Santa Barbara City for the third time this year in this evening's
late match, winning by scores of 25-19, 25-21, and 25-15.
The Brahmas rode the serving of Erick Gomez in game 1, scoring four
straight points on Gomez' serve to take a 9-5 lead, then getting another
four-point service run from Gomez later in the game to go up 21-11. The
Brahmas led 23-12 before the Vaqueros closed with a late rally, but
Dhiraj Coates pounded down the final point of a 25-19 win.
The second game saw Pierce trail 13-10, but the Brahmas went on a 7-1
run to go up 17-14, then rolled off five straight points later in the
game to take a 24-18 lead. In the final game, Pierce took a lead of 13-3
and looked well on their way to the final. Santa Barbara closed it to
18-14, but managed a lone side-out the rest of the way as Pierce
completed the sweep.
Pierce was led by outside hitter Dhiraj Coates, who had 13 kills and a
pair of aces. Brandon Burchart had nine kills and five blocks, while
Casey Rosdail added seven kills and four blocks. Steve Foote led Pierce
with six blocks; setter Dave Kniffin dished up 31 assists for the
winners.
For Santa Barbara City, Avri Jeschke pounded out 13 kills to match
Coates for match-best honors. Chris Redfield added eight kills, and Tim
Mays had 26 assists for the Vaqueros.
Earlier in the evening, Orange Coast advanced to the title match with a
three-game victory over El Camino. The scores were 25-17, 25-22, and
25-22.
The Pirates were hot early, taking leads of 5-2 and 17-9 in the first
game on the way to an easy 25-17 win, then taking leads of 7-1 and 10-2
in the second game. El Camino rallied in the second, closing the gap to
13-10 behind the offense of Tamer George (12 kills in the match) and
eventually tying the game at 21. Orange Coast ran off the next three
points and eventually took a two-games-to-none lead when an El Camino
dink went into the net.
The Warriors, who had won nine of 11 coming in, played their best
volleyball in the third game, as the lead seesawed throughout. Neither
team led by more than two points until the Warriors got back-to-back
kills from Ben Napoleon to take a 17-14 lead. The Pirates hung tough,
though, taking a 19-18 lead before going up for good at 21-19 on
back-to-back kills from Soren Schneider. The Pirates closed things out
when B.J. Lightvoet pounded down his 12th kill of the night on match
point.
George and Lightvoet each had 12 kills to lead their respective squads.
Soren Schneider had five of his nine kills in the final game, while Dave
Engle had eight kills and a match-best five blocks and Ryan Owens added
six kills and four blocks. Nick Ptaschinski dished off 35 assists for
the Pirates, and libero Ed Chun had a match-high 12 digs to set a
single-season Orange Coast record with 223 on the year.
In addition to George, who had a team-high six digs along with his
dozen kills, Ben Napoleon had eight kills and Stewart Solomon seven.
Pierce, the defending state champion, has .advanced to the State
Championship match the past two seasons, losing to Golden West in 1999
before defeating the Rustlers in five games in a thrilling final last
April at Irvine Valley College. Behind a 62-kill performance from Lance
Walker, the Brahmas twice rallied from one-game deficits to beat Golden
West by scores of 12-15, 15-12, 5-15, 17-16, and 15-9.
Orange Coast advanced to the championship match for the first time
since 1997 and will try tomorrow night to win an unprecedented sixth
state championship. The Pirates won five state championships between
1987 and 1994.
Saturday's 7 p.m. championship match will be played in the large gym at
Long Beach City College, 4901 East Carson Street in Long Beach. The
large gym is located on the northeast corner of Faculty Avenue and Lew
Davis Street. Parking is available in the lots to the west of the gym
along Faculty Avenue and to the south of the gym off of Lew Davis.
Additional parking is available on the south side of Lew Davis in the
Veterans Stadium lot. Tickets are $6 for adults and $3 for students with
ID, faculty/staff, and children.
Contact: Eric Maddy, Long Beach City College, (562) 938-4243 or
.
