Long Beach City takes down Orange Coast to claim No. 1 spot in poll over Pirates
February 20, 2020
IRVINE - There is a new top-ranked team in the California Community College Men's Volleyball Coaches Association State Poll.
Defending state champion Long Beach City moved to the top of the ladder and 5-1 overall after beating previous No. 1 Orange Coast, in four sets last Friday night in a wild match at home. The fourth set featured 84 points alone The Vikings improved their record to 5-1 overall with an amazing 26-24, 22-25, 25-23, 43-41 victory over the Pirates. LBCC got 19 kills from Uriel Batista and Joseph Rocha recorded 50 assists.
Orange Coast, which saw its record slip to 2-3 on the year, was paced by Will Anderson's 17 kills and Kohl Kutsch's 45 assists. It doesn't get a whole lot easier for OCC this week as it plays at No. 3 El Camino on Wednesday on the road.
El Camino moved up a spot in the poll with a sweep over San Diego Mesa in its lone match last week. Gabriel Vargas-Featherstone led the charge for the Warriors with 13 kills. Tommy Fraker dished out 21 assists.
Moorpark continued to climb - all the way up to No. 4 - and remained the only undefeated team in the state heading into this week's action at 5-0. Moorpark topped a pair of Orange Empire Conference teams last week, beating Golden West in four sets at home on Wednesday and then sweeping previously unbeaten Santiago Canyon on Thursday on the road. In its win over the Hawks, Moorpark hit .342 as a team in the match and got 13 kills from Gurpreet Ghotra. Lucas Ogg ran the offense with 33 assists.
Santa Barbara City remained in the fifth spot after a nice five-set win on the road at Irvine Valley. The Vaqueros took the final two sets, including the fifth, 15-11. Six of the eight Vaqueros had five or more kills. Keoni Thiim led the way with 15 kills and a .500 hitting percentage. Setter Kyle Merchen had seven kills and finished with a season-high 37 assists in the victory.
The rest of the top 10 poll can be viewed below.
| CCCMVCA STATE POLL (Feb. 19) | |||
| RK | School | Record | PR |
| 1. | Long Beach City | 5-1 | 2 |
| 2. | Orange Coast | 2-3 | 1 |
| 3. | El Camino | 3-1 | 4 |
| 4. | Moorpark | 5-0 | 8 |
| 5. | Santa Barbara City | 2-2 | 5 |
| 6. | San Diego Miramar | 2-1 | 6 |
| 7. | Santiago Canyon | 2-1 | 3 |
| 8. | Irvine Valley | 2-5 | 7 |
| 9. | Golden West | 4-3 | 9 |
| 10. | Fullerton | 2-3 | 10 |
| Others: Grossmont | |||
(Brent Shaver, CCCMVCA)