Long Beach City College outlasts Orange Coast to win state title

WOODLAND HILLS — The mechanics of volleyball require passers to field the ball in between upraised forearms, in what coaches call the V. For the team that performs this skill with the greatest consistency, the V can also translate into victory.

Such was the case for Long Beach City College on Saturday, as the Vikings used superior passing to overcome a more physical Orange Coast squad and earn a four-game triumph in the California Community College Athletic Assn. men’s volleyball final at Pierce College.

The Vikings (20-2) extended their winning streak to 20 matches with a 32-30, 18-25, 25-21, 27-25 win that halted OCC’s winning streak at 12.

The Pirates (21-3), who were attempting to claim the program’s seventh state title, its second in the last three seasons, instead settled for the runner-up trophy for the 10th time.

And OCC Coach Travis Turner didn’t hesitate to identify the culprit.

“We didn’t pass well enough to win,” Turner said. “If we would have passed the ball, we would have been fine. That has kind of been our Achilles heel all year long and [Long Beach] exposed it a little better than most teams.”

OCC matched the Vikings’ 38 digs and posted a 63-47 advantage in kills, as sophomore outside hitter Adrian Faitalia and freshman outside hitter Gianluca Grasso pounded 20 kills apiece. But OCC hit .206, 25 points worse than Long Beach, which had 10 fewer missed serves than the Pirates.

Long Beach, which defeated OCC in four games in a tournament on Feb. 20, also posted a 10-9 advantage in total blocks.

Faitalia, who shared Pacific Coast Conference MVP honors with Grasso, was joined on the state all-tournament team by freshman middle blocker Matthew Ujkic, who had 10 kills, hit .a team-best .412 and added five block assists and one solo stuff.

Faitalia hit .302 and produced seven digs and three aces, while Grasso hit .087 with 10 digs, three block assists and one ace.

Both Grasso and freshman middle blocker Will Donald missed four serves, while sophomore setter Jake Adams (a match-best 58 assists) missed three. Adams had two aces as OCC posted a 9-5 edge in that category.

Charles Blevin, a sophomore opposite, hit .667 with 12 kills on 15 swings for the Vikings, while sophomore outside hitter Joshua Nehls and freshman outside hitter Andrew Pearson chipped in 15 and 11 kills, respectively.

But the MVP went to freshman libero Jordan Molina, who posted a match-best 14 digs and four aces. The final Molina ace gave Long Beach a 25-24 lead in the final set. Molina also fired an ace to pull his team within 24-23.

OCC answered the final Molina ace with a Grasso kill, but Grasso was then blocked by the tandem of Cesar Renteria and Nehls to set up match point.

OCC was called for a net violation to end the match.

The Pirates rallied from a 10-5 deficit to claim Game 4 leads of 17-15, 21-17 and 24-21.

OCC led, 13-6 and 19-16, in the opening set and was twice serving for the match at 27-26 and 29-28. But the Vikings, who needed five sets to win its semifinal on Thursday against Golden West, prevailed.

OCC evened the match by hitting .367 in Game 2, but hit .172 in the fourth set, in which it led, 12-7, and a mere .111 in the deciding game.

It was a record ninth state crown for Long Beach, which also knocked off OCC in the 2012 final.

Freshman opposite Wyatt Henson had nine kills, eight digs, two aces, and was in on four blocks for the Pirates.

Donald had four kills and one ace.