Pirates will face Griffins in Final Four opener
COSTA MESA -- The Orange Coast College men's volleyball team -- winners of the Pacific Coast Conference -- will take on Grossmont College in the first semifinal match of the 2012 California Community College Athletic Association Men's Volleyball State Championships on Thursday at Long Beach City College.
The Griffins (11-7 overall, 8-4 in conference) finished third in the PCC behind Orange Coast (14-4, 11-1) and runner-up Irvine Valley (11-7, 9-3). In head-to-head matchups, Coast went 2-0, beating the Griffins in four games on Feb. 29 at Grossmont and in three games on March 23 at OCC.
The road to the Final Four wasn't a smooth one for the Pirates. After struggling out of the gates at 4-4 (1-1 in PCC), Orange Coast got hot at exactly the right time.
A season-changing five-game win over rival Golden West on the road highlighted OCC's current win streak, which stands at 10. Coast redeemed its lone conference loss to the Lasers by topping IVC in four games during the streak and the Pirates picked up sweeps in eight of those wins.
Leading the way for the Pirates' resurgence has been freshman opposite Dillon Emery. The Fountain Valley HS product led the state with 239 kills and was OCC's main weapon throughout the season. Joining Emery in the offense was sophomore outside Chris Van Vuuren, who finished the regular season with 161 kills. Both are also tied for the state lead in service aces with 26.
Freshman outside hitters Rusty Sary (98 kills) and John Christian (83 kills) have added to the offensive weapons for Coast and the distributor of that offense lies in the hands of sophomore setter Michael Ensign, who finished third in the state with 582 assists.
For the Griffins, their offense is led by Shalamar Buchanan, who finished fourth in the state with 196 kills. His 3.8 kills/set is third-best in the state.
Adding to the Grossmont offense include Nate Allen (102 kills), Diego Bustos (76 kills), Adam Fleck (74 kills) and Jake Haar (65 kills), while setter Shane Beatty (538 assists) led the state in assists/set at 10.76.
The winner of Thursday's match will face the winner of Thursday's late match between IVC and Long Beach City for the state championship, which will take place on Saturday at 7 p.m.
