Girls volleyball: Hero time for the Pirates

Steve Virgen

COSTA MESA - Five-game volleyball matches always involve heroes.

Wednesday night’s match at Orange Coast highlighted those heroes in the

form of Lauren Wilson and Natasha Evylnn, who stepped up for the Pirates’

women’s volleyball team in the deciding game against Irvine Valley.

OCC (13-5, 7-2 in OEC) battled back from a 2-1 deficit in games to

emerge victorious 15-13, 13-15, 8-15, 15-2, 15-13 and moved into a

second-place tie with the Lasers in the Orange Empire Conference.

“I’m still shaking,” said Wilson, who finished with 24 kills -- kill

No. 24 was the final blow in the deciding game. “We just got after it

(when down 2-1 in games). We wanted it.”

Wilson’s kill ensured Evylnn’s sizzling performance to come with

reward. The 5-foot-10 sophomore punched in 40 kills on the night, five

coming in the final game.

With the Pirates leading, 14-13, and IVC serving, OCC called a

timeout. Pirates assistant coach Ki Yi pulled aside Wilson to try to

inspire her.

“She’s been our leader,” Yi said of Wilson. “I just told her, ‘You are

going to deliver a great hit. You leave here knowing that you left it all

out there with no regrets. Go for a great hit. ‘ And she did it.”

Heroes never disappoint.

After the timeout, Wilson finished Tina Nguyen’s assist, blasting the

ball inches from IVC’s left sideline. Nguyen finished with 65 assists.

OCC forced a five-game match with momentum. Yet, it was the Lasers who

possessed the momentum after losing the first game, 15-13.

Game 2 featured another seesaw battle just as in Game 1 when OCC broke away from 11-11 to gain the advantage. The Lasers mirrored the Pirates’

performance with almost the same situation.

In the second game, IVC (7-2 in OEC) came back from a 13-11 deficit,

fired off a 15-13 win and seized the momentum into the third game. And in

that third game the Lasers reeled off 11 straight points and held off a

late Pirate surge to win, 15-8.

“For us, at the end of third game, we actually had some momentum,”

said OCC Coach Chuck Cutenese. “I told the girls, ‘Don’t look at the

score. Look at your performance.’ ”

The Pirates rode their momentum and built a 12-0 lead, 10 points

coming when Lori Smith was serving. OCC then put the Lasers away in a

breathtaking fifth game that had four lead changes.

When Wilson put away the final point, the bench cleared and every OCC

player piled on Wilson. The Pirates won their fourth straight match and

the rest of the schedule has them playing at home. They host Saddleback

Thursday at 7 p.m.

With the Pirates leading 11-9 in the final game, IVC called a timeout

and Cutenese delivered a statement that summed up the entire match.

“I just told them, ‘This is what it’s all about. This is the game that

you’re going to remember.”