The first California Community College Men's Volleyball Coaches Association State Poll of 2023 features a number of teams at the top with not a lot of separation.
San Diego Mesa has seven wins so far, Irvine Valley, Orange Coast and Santiago Canyon have each have recorded six victories and Long Beach and Moorpark have also looked tough so far.
Irvine Valley sits in the top spot with a record of 6-1 overall. The Lasers have defeated both Long Beach and Moorpark in five sets and their lone loss was to San Diego Mesa in five sets on the road on Feb. 22.
Sophomore opposite Demetre Gossett leads the state in kills at 4.14 kills per set and sophomore libero Adam Schulte is tops in digs at 4.07 per set.
Long Beach is at No. 2 after a pair of four-set wins over No. 4 Orange Coast and a sweep of Miramar. The Vikings have a big match with No. 5 Moorpark at home Wednesday night.
Orange Coast, the defending state champion, comes in at No. 3 after defeating San Diego Mesa in five sets on the road last Friday night behind Sebastian Lara, who had 22 kills and Landon Seymour, who recorded an impressive 51 assists.
Mesa sits at No. 4. The Olympians have the seven wins with their three losses coming to Santiago Canyon (in five sets) to start the year, at Santa Barbara City (in three sets) and to Orange Coast in the five-set showdown last Friday night. In that match with OCC, Austin Kinnear had 19 kills and hit .341 and Richard Aguiniga finished with 44 assists for the San Diego Mesa.
Moorpark is ranked No. 5 with a record of 4-2. And its two losses have come to Irvine Valley (in five sets on the road) and against Mesa in four sets. TJ Letuligasenoa leads the state in hitting percentage at .364.
Miramar (with only a loss to Long Beach City) sits at No. 6 and Santiago Canyon (with six wins), Santa Barbara City, Santa Monica and Antelope Valley round out the top 10 rankings.
Others: El Camino, Fullerton
CCCMVCA State Top 10
1. Irvine Valley (6-1)
2. Long Beach City (4-1)
3. Orange Coast (6-2)
4. San Diego Mesa (7-3)
5. Moorpark (4-2)
6. Miramar (3-1)
7. Santiago Canyon (6-3)
8. Santa Barbara City (3-2)
9. Santa Monica (3-4)
10. Antelope Valley (3-4)
Highlighted student-athlete of the week
Demetre Gossett – sophomore opposite Irvine Valley
Irvine Valley bounced back after suffering their first loss of the season with a 19-25, 25-13, 25-20, 28-26 win at Santa Monica last Friday night.
IVC got a big night from Gossett, who finished with 23 kills, two aces and eight digs and hit .405 in the win.
Gossett is averaging 4.14 kills per set and hitting.358 to lead the way for the squad. He leads the state in kills per set and total kills (116) and is also second in hitting percentage at .358.
