Ivine Valley is ranked No. 4 in the California Community College Men's Volleyball Coaches Association State Poll once again.
The Lasers have held the fourth spot for four straight weeks. The Lasers are coming off convincing wins over Miramar and San Diego Mesa last week. IVC swept both teams and ran their record to 8-4 overall.
Orange Coast received the top vote in the ranking from every coach for the fourth week in a row to be No. 1.
Orange Coast has been dominant thus far. The Pirates have a record of 10-0, have swept five matches in a row and have dropped just three sets all season. Only one of the team's matches have gone five sets and that was against No. 2 El Camino.
Orange Coast won at Palomar, 25-9, 25-7, 25-19 last Wednesday and then No. 10 Grossmont, 25-12, 25-10, 25-15. Five different players had at least five kills last in the win over Grossmont and Kyle McCauley continues to lead the squad, averaging 3.09 kills per set and hitting .341.
OCC plays four-year Aquinas in a doubleheader on Friday.
El Camino jumped Long Beach City to the No. 2 spot for the first time this season. El Camino had been ranked third in each of the first three polls of the year.
The Warriors have a record of 6-1 overall and are coming off a big, five-set win over Long Beach City last Friday night. Gabriel Vargas-Featherstone is averaging 4.10 kills per set on the year for El Camino. The Warriors play Miramar at home Wednesday and are at No. 6 Santa Barbara on Friday.
Long Beach City slipped a spot to No. 3 after its 20-25, 25-19, 24-26, 29-27, 15-12 marathon loss at El Camino last Friday. Long Beach has three losses, but two are to Orange Coast in four sets and to El Camino in five sets. The Vikings are right there. Against El Camino, Kyle Anema had a standout 28 kills and hit .370 to pace LBCC. And Joseph Rocha recorded 45 assists. Long Beach City takes on Antelope Valley and Santa Monica at home this week.
Irvine Valley fell to El Camino in four sets two weeks ago, but bounced back with sweeps over Miramar at home and San Diego Mesa on the road last week. Against Mesa, freshman middle blocker Tristan Belsby had six kills to lead the way.
Irvine Valley has a big match to start Orange Empire Conference action next Wednesday at home at 6 p.m., taking on top-ranked Orange Coast.
Moorpark was the clear No. 5 team this week. The Raiders have a record of 5-1 with their only loss coming at Golden West in five sets early in the year. Dylan Haskell, Brent Rasmussen and Jordan Moses each had double-digit kills and Steven Weese chipped in 35 assists in Moorpark's best win of the season, a five-set victory (18-16 in the fifth) over Santa Barbara on Feb. 27. Moorpark plays at Santa Monica Wednesday night.
The aforementioned Santa Barbara City comes in at No. 6 with a trio of Orange Empire Conference teams next. Santiago Canyon moved up a position to No. 7 with Golden West at eight and Fullerton ninth. SCC is off to a nice 5-2 start. It hosts No. 10 Grossmont on Friday and then opens Orange Empire Conference play at Golden West next Wednesday.
The entire top 10 poll can be viewed below.
CCCMVCA State Top 10
1. Orange Coast (10-0)
2. El Camino (6-1)
3. Long Beach City (5-3)
4. Irvine Valley (8-4)
5. Moorpark (5-1)
6. Santa Barbara City (4-2)
7. Santiago Canyon (6-2)
8. Golden West (5-3)
9. Fullerton (5-5)
10. Grossmont (3-6)
Others receiving votes: Santa Monica, Miramar, LA Pierce
