Vikings upset Pirates in four to end season

COSTA MESA -- And ... just like that ... the magical run of the Orange Coast College women's volleyball team is over after a hard-fought road win for Long Beach City College, who upset the Pirates, 17-25, 25-21, 26-24, 25-14, in the second round of the Southern California Regional Playoffs on Tuesday night inside OCC's Peterson Gym.

It was a bad night for the third-seeded Pirates (25-1) to pick up their first loss of the season as the 14th-seeded Vikings (18-9) shook off some early struggles and pulled away from the hosts with an inspired four-set victory.

Nika Safavi led the Pirates with 19 kills, while Kayla Ihrig added 11 kills. For the Vikings, Kyla Jones led the offense with 12 kills, Marissa Krebs added 12 kills and seven solo blocks and Nyla Hankins threw down 10 kills. Krebs and fellow middle blocker Ryleeh Tuaolo (8 kills, four blocks) grabbed control of things for the Vikings and OCC struggled to find answers.

It looked good early for the Pirates as they jumped out on the Vikings in the opening set to a 19-9 lead as Safavi (six kills) showed confidence and execution, while the Vikings were still trying to find their rhythm.

Coast finished things off in the opener, but Long Beach came out with a ton of aggression and played like a team with nothing to lose as they jumped out to a 12-5 lead in the second set. OCC took advantage of a run of LBCC mistakes and pulled to within a point at 12-11, but the Vikings never lost their lead and used a 4-1 mini-run to close out the second set, evening the match at 1-1.

The turning point of the match for both teams came in the third set. Coast responded from the second-set loss with an 11-2 run to start set No. 3. Safavi notched three kills during the run and Coast appeared to be in control.

But back came the Vikings, who ripped off a 15-4 run to grab a 17-15 advantage. The LBCC middles of Tuaolo and Krebs (two kills, two blocks each during that span) put the Pirates on their heels. 

Both teams traded runs and in the final stretch, LBCC had a 22-20 lead. But, a Safai kill and three LBCC errors gave Coast a 24-23 advantage and were one point away from take a 2-1 lead in the match.

A Krebs kill evened things at 24, an OCC hitting error put LBCC back in front and an ace by Tyreana Allen finished off the comeback and just like that, the Vikings carried a 2-1 lead in the match.

From there, LBCC took control and played one of their best sets of the 2025 season, earning 14 kills for their 25 points. The Vikings jumped up 20-9 and from there, it was a matter of time for the upset to be complete.

With the win, Long Beach will play at Palomar College on Saturday night in the next round of the playoffs.

The loss not only ends the careers of standout sophomores Nika Safavi, Sophie Vienna, Aliyah Spencer, Joey Payan, Kennedy Cutler and Caprie Troccoli, it also ends the 33-year coaching career of longtime OCC head coach, Chuck Cutenese, who finishes his tenure with 569 career wins and just 218 losses to go along with four Orange Empire Conference championships and three state titles (2005, 2006, 2009).