Pirates prevail in three over Gauchos
COSTA MESA -- The Orange Coast College women's volleyball team won its 15th straight match on Friday night, cruising to a three-set victory over visiting Saddleback College.
Karlee Riggs led the way with 19 kills and 13 digs as the Pirates -- ranked No. 2 in the state -- defeated the Gauchos, 25-13, 25-23, 25-15, to improve to 9-0 in the Orange Empire Conference.
Coast was able to empty the bench during Friday's win and everyone contributed to the victory, including Malayzha Dinkins, who provided five kills and Hayley Martin and Dana Nicholson, who chipped in three each.
Andi Frisina had five digs and three aces for Coast, whikle Nicholson and Lindsey Romero each had four digs.
Setter Allison Lumsden dished out 35 assists.
For the Gauchos (4-14, 2-7), Jourdan Kadow led their offense with 11 kills.
The Pirate regulars played all of the first set as they jumped out to a 14-6 lead and never looked back. Saddleback got to within five at 16-11 before Coast closed out the opening set with a 9-2 run.
In the second set, OCC's lineup was mixed around with starters and reserves as the Gauchos jumped out to an 11-8 lead before the Pirates responded with 10-2 run to take an 18-13 advantage.
Saddleback began to chip into the deficit and used managed to tie things up at 23 before a Nicholson kill and a wide return gave Coast the win and a two-set lead in the match.
It was more of the same in the third set as the Pirates grabbed an early lead and never let up.
The first-place Pirates will return to action on Wednesday at Riverside, beginning at 6 p.m. OCC's next home match will be on Wednesday, Nov. 7 against Santa Ana at 7 p.m.
