OCC starts strong
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COSTA MESA — The Orange Coast College women’s volleyball season has been shaped by outside forces. In more ways than one.
Coach Chuck Cutenese said the improvement of sophomore outside hitters Poerava Gantt and Rachel Freeno has, along with sophomore middle blocker Briana Fields, helped create a potent, balanced attack to go with some stellar ball control keyed by sophomore libero Nikki Osuna, sophomore Amanda Cheseborough and freshman setter Kimya Jafroudi.
Yet an abundance of returners from the team that went 22-6 and finished fourth in the state last season, has also meant more internal pressure to make the most of its current postseason run, Cutenese said.
That run began Tuesday with a 25-18, 25-17, 25-13 romp over visiting Palomar in the first round of the Southern California Regional playoffs.
“Last year’s team didn’t know what to expect, because the players were so young,” Cutenese said. “That’s always nice. This team [with six of seven starters being sophomores] has put a little bit more pressure on itself, because it wants to get back to the state tournament. Sometimes, I think it has been a little too much pressure.”
The Pirates (19-2), the No. 5 seed in Southern California after sharing the Orange Empire Conference title with Cypress, didn’t appear to be adversely affected by any pressure Tuesday. They trailed only once (at 1-0 of Game 3) and No. 12-seeded Palomar (16-5) managed to tie the score just five times, the last at 4-4 of the final set.
“You didn’t see [the effects of pressure] tonight, but we’ve been struggling to get to [the postseason],” said Cutenese, pointing to five-game matches against Cypress (a loss) and Irvine Valley (a win) among five previous November matches. “I’ve been trying to get the team to be focused on the match at hand and not be so worried about what was going to happen in the playoffs and where we were going to be seeded and all that stuff.”
That focus was well-defined against the Comets, as the Pirates made just three service errors and very few other obvious miscues.
“As we’re getting further into the competition, we’re just coming together,” said Freeno, who had 10 kills to join Gantt (14) and Fields (11) in double figures for the winners, who advance to visit No. 4-seeded Moorpark (20-4) in Saturday’s second round at 7 p.m. “We’re trying to force the other team to make the errors and we’re sticking together.”
Sticking together, perhaps, but also spreading the ball around to confound blockers.
Jafroudi, fed by the consistently solid passing of her teammates, had 34 assists.
Osuna had 16 kills to give her 409 for the season. She needs 43 to break the school single-season record set by Kiwi Winkler in 2006.
Gantt added 12 digs, while Freeno had nine and Cheseborough had eight.
Fields and Cheseborough were first-team all-conference performers as freshmen, while Freeno earned second-team recognition. In addition, sophomore opposite Karlee Skalla (seven kills and two block assists) earned honorable mention in all-conference voting in 2008.
Cutenese also credited freshman Kristin Rice for a strong contribution off the bench at middle blocker.
But it’s Gantt and Freeno who have solidified everything, Cutenese said.
“There has been a lot of improvement with Poe and Rachel and the outside hitter position, which has made things a lot better for us.”
Moorpark defeated Mt. San Antonio, 25-12, 25-11, 25-15, Tuesday at home to advance.
Should OCC, ranked seventh in the state, win Saturday, it would advance to the state tournament, Dec. 4-6 at San Joaquin Delta College in Stockton.
OCC and Moorpark have not met this season.
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