Pirates win seventh straight by sweeping Hawks

COSTA MESA -- The Orange Coast College men's volleyball continues to show why it resides atop the state rankings as the Pirates ripped through visiting Santiago Canyon in three straight on Friday night inside the Peterson Gym.

Will Anderson had 12 kills and only one error for the Pirates (12-1, 3-0 in the Orange Empire Conference), winners of seven straight. DiAeris McRaven added eight kills, while Zack Weston was a perfect 7-for-7 in his hitting attempts for the night. 

Serving was the Pirates' friend on Friday night as Coast ripped 11 aces for the night, including a team-best five from setter Grayson Kling. The 5-10 freshman also dished out 32 assists, while Sam Warren anchored the defense with seven digs.

Coast lead throughout the opening set, but the Hawks (5-8, 1-2) hung tough with strong hitting from Cameron Grammatica, who had six of this 10 kills in the opening set. Coast used a mini 4-1 run to grab a 23-18 advantage and things looked comfy for the hosts. 

But SCC used a long OCC return, an ace by Connor Wilson and a Grammatica put-away to pull SCC to within a pair at 23-21. 

An Anderson kill pushed the Pirates to set point, but a pair of sloppy plays by the Pirates forced head coach Travis Turner into taking a timeout at 24-23. 

The break worked as Warren slammed a kill down the line to end the set, putting Coast ahead for good.

The next two sets were dominated early by the Pirates as they jumped out to 12-1 lead in the second set and 11-1 in the third. From there, OCC cruised to victory in each set to close things out.

OCC returns to the Peterson Gym on Wednesday night against Fullerton College, beginning at 6 p.m.