Golden West and Long Beach city to play for volleyball state title on Saturday at IVC
Apr 24, 2009
Long Beach City will face Golden West for the 2009 Men's Volleyball State Championship on Saturday at Irvine Valley at 7 p.m.
Long Beach City defeated Santa Monica in three games and Golden West beat Orange Coast in four games in semifinal contests on Thursday night at IVC.
Semifinal Match #1: Long Beach 3, Santa Monica 0 (30-28, 30-27, 30-20)
It may have gone down as a three-game sweep, but it wasn't easy as Long
Beach City College defeated Santa Monica College in Thursday's opening
semifinal match of the 2009 CCCAA Men's Volleyball Championship in
Irvine.
Long Beach won the match by scores of 30-28, 30-27, and 30-20 to improve to 17-1 this season.
Santa Monica opened the match playing well and led game one by scores
of 15-10 and 20-15. But Long Beach finally took its first lead at 24-23
and never looked back in taking the opener.
SMC jumped out to a big lead in game two and once again, LBCC rallied
for the win. Trailing 16-10, the Vikings rolled to eight straight
points behind the serving of freshman Devon Taylor to go up 18-16.
"Devon was the key in game two," said Totorp. "He won game two for us,
no doubt about it. They had to adjust to his serving which allowed us
to block and play back on defense."
With the confidence of taking games one and two, LBCC cruised to the
30-20 win in game three to complete the sweep, their 14th of the season.
Sophomore Antwain Aguillard led LBCC with 15 kills and four blocks,
while sophomore Casey Bennett had 14 kills and nine digs. Sophomore
Andrew Marques posted 47 assists.
For Santa Monica (14-6), sophomore RJ Storm-Larsen had a team-high 11
kills. Sophomore Quinn Lukens totaled 10 kills and six digs while
sophomore Matt Atkins had 34 assists.
LBCC returns to the state championship final on Saturday at 7 p.m.
after a one-year absence. The Vikings look to capture the program's
seventh state title and third under head coach Randy Totorp.
"We have a lot of third-year guys that saw us lose in the final in 2007," said Totorp. "This team wants a state championship."
Semifinal Match #2: Golden West 3, Orange Coast 1 (25-30, 30-28, 30-19, 30-27)
Golden West College returns to the state championship final for the
first time since 2003 thanks to its 3-1 win over rival Orange Coast
College in Thursday night's second semifinal of the 2009 California
Community College Athletic Association Men's Volleyball Championship in
Irvine.
Golden West overcame an opening game loss as well as some playoff
jitters to take the match by scores of 25-30, 30-28, 30-19, and 30-27.
Orange Coast came out aggressive in game one, stealing momentum from Pacific Coast Conference champ Golden West.
According to Golden West head coach Mike D'Alessandro, nerves likely played a factor.
"That was the first game of the playoffs for us," he said. "Orange
Coast had already played a tough five-game match on Tuesday. So I think
our guys might have been nervous."
But Golden West took back control in game two.
"We blocked a lot of balls on defense in the second that really helped us turn it around in the second," D'Alessandro said.
Orange Coast jumped out to a 10-8 lead in game three before Golden West
tied it up at 11. But behind the serving of Greg Smith, the Rustlers
rallied for eight unanswered points to take a commanding 19-11
advantage and eventually cruised to the big 30-19 win.
Game four was a classic battle between the two squads. The game was
tied six times while neither team lead by more than two points. Golden
West finally jumped up 26-24 before holding on for the victory to
secure its state final berth.
Ian McKelvie led Golden West (14-5) with 14 kills and 12 digs. Ryan
Bagwell posted 12 kills and nine digs. At setter, Jake Maosi had 29
assists while Sam Morehouse totaled 25 assists.
For Orange Coast (13-9), Jake Melone led all with 24 kills. Rick
Schroeder had eight blocks and six kills, while Doug Astor totaled 53
assists.
"Long Beach is a great team," said D'Alessandro of his next opponent. "They don't make a lot of mistakes."
In their lone meeting this season, Long Beach swept Golden West at home on February 4.