OCC settles for fourth place in state

PASADENA — Even as she was scooping gobs of cake frosting off her cheeks and licking her fingers clean, Orange Coast College kills leader and Birthday girl Briana Fields said there was nothing sweet about an 8 1/2 -hour day that ended in elimination.

Fields and the Pirates were bested, 21-25, 25-23, 28-30, 25-22, 15-12, by El Camino for the right to advance to the final three Saturday night at the California Community College Athletic Assn. state women’s volleyball championship at Pasadena City College.

The loss, after a gut-wrenching 2 hours, 11 minutes of seesaw volleyball that seemed to wear down the rooters for both teams, ended the season for the Pirates (22-6), who settle for fourth place in the state.

“It sucks, because we won the first match this morning [a five-game verdict against Sacramento City that lasted 102 minutes],” said Fields, who had 18 kills, eight block assists and two solo blocks against El Camino (30-2). She had an impressive .533 hitting percentage against the Warriors.

“I just wanted this so bad, and I put everything I had into it. And I know the other girls did too,” said Fields, who had some cake smeared on her face by a playful teammate several moments after the match ended. “It just hurts to know that we lost, when we should have won. We could have won and gone on [to a 10 a.m. match today for the right to advance to the championship round in the double-elimination format]. Just to know that the season is over, sucks.”

Fields emerged from the postgame team meeting to a birthday cake held by one of the OCC supporters. Though still visibly down, her teammates began singing “Happy Birthday’ to Fields, who started crying as she was hugged by a teammate.

Several of her teammates supported Fields on the court, as well, including freshman opposite Karlee Skalla, who had 16 kills, eight block assists and one solo block, in what Coach Chuck Cutenese said may have been her most productive match of the season.

Freshman outside hitter Rachel Freeno, playing with a torn right labrum that kept her from practicing all week, chipped in 10 kills and a team-best 18 digs.

Freeno, forced by the shoulder injury to abandon her typical jump serve, had carried much of the hitting load earlier in the day. She collected 17 kills, with a team-best .293 hitting percentage, to go with a team-leading 19 digs in the 15-25, 25-23, 26-24, 18-25, 15-10 triumph over Sacramento City (25-7).

Sophomore setter Emily Lyon had 61 assists and 14 digs against El Camino, after producing 40 in the afternoon win.

Sophomore outside hitter Jessica Bodkin, a Newport Harbor High product, had 15 kills and nine digs against El Camino.

Sophomore middle blocker Christina Richards had eight kills and a .353 hitting percentage against El Camino, easily her best match of the tournament.

Freshman libero Amanda Cheseborough contributed 13 digs for OCC.

Cutenese, like Fields, was disappointed not to have gotten the chance to bounce back just more than 12 hours later against a Fresno City College squad that edged the Pirates in five games in the opening round Friday.

“I still would have liked to have been there,” Cutenese said when asked if he thought his team would have had anything left after two grueling matches Saturday. OCC played twice Friday, as well.

“Even against El Camino, we showed signs of being brilliant. We just had a hard time focusing and holding that. Every streak or run from El Camino was off of poor basic ball control from us. And when our passing breaks down, we can’t run the ball through the middle, which is where our strength is.”

Cutenese said his team failed to play its best volleyball at the state tournament.

“We played our best during the [Southern California] regionals [capped by an upset of Los Angeles Pierce, ranked No. 1 in the state at the time],” Cutenese said. “Getting past Pierce was huge. I was hoping we would play with more consistent confidence, But we didn’t.

“[The Warriors] dug a ton of balls, didn’t have a lot of hitting errors and they served aggressive,” Cutenese said. “Had El Camino come out and taken it to us from the start and beat us, I would have said they were the better team and they deserved to win. But we had some opportunities that could have allowed us to win this match.”

The win over Sacramento included overcoming a 13-3 in the third set to win, 26-24.

The critical third-set rally included a boost off the bench from freshman middle blocker Alex Mainini, who was in on three blocks and had the game-clinching kill, a two-handed poke on an overpass.

BARRY FAULKNER may be reached at (714) 966-4615 or at [email protected].