By
Tony Lee
On
Friday, December 11, 2009
Orange Coast College women’s volleyball team understands the saying “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” a bit too well from doing “boards” at their practices.
“It’s where you push this wooden block with carpet around it, push it with your hands and run across the floor,” said sophomore libero Nikki Osuna on Nov. 26 after beating Moorpark College in five sets. “We do those every day and I feel like we hate them so much, but they’ve made us so much better. Our stamina is insane that we can go for games like this and play the way we do.”
Head coach Chuck Cutenese said that ever since he became a coach, he’s incorporated using boards into his programs.
“It’s a lower body workout and you feel it in the back of your legs,” he said. “When I played at Chapman University, I hated them. They were the worst. But our coach kept saying it’s going to make you better.”
Though many of the Coast players agree that doing boards is painful, all of them recognize the benefits of pushing a two-by-four wooden block with carpet on it.
“Yeah they are tiring and yeah they made you want to throw up, but in the long run, we were probably in better shape than all the other teams,” sophomore middle blocker Briana Fields (pictured) said, “because of our hard work and boards we did everyday.”
But boards were also a used as a form of punishment.
“I set the record last year for 29 boards in a row because I was late for practice,” sophomore outside hitter Rachel Freeno said. “I’m like the queen of boards, but everyone hates them.”
Besides the increased strength and stamina, Freeno said that boards have contributed a big part to why the lady Pirates are such a cohesive group.
“Personally, I think it’s bringing us closer,” she said, “because everybody dreads doing boards so it’s pushing us as a team.”Click here to read "Lady Pirates on top again" article on the team winning its third state title in the last five years.[Photo courtesy of Hank Schellingerhout]
By
Tony Lee
On
Sunday, December 06, 2009
Karlee Skalla (pictured) tallied 13 kills and four blocks for the Orange Coast College women’s volleyball team in a 25-21, 25-12, 25-14 win against Sierra College Saturday (Dec. 5) in the California Community College Athletic Association state championships at San Joaquin Delta College.The No. 1 seeded lady Pirates (23-3) lost to the No. 4 seed Sierra in the opening round of the tournament and since then has played in the loser's bracket. “We underestimated our first opponent Sierra and it cost us," head coach Chuck Cutenese said in a press release on coasports.org. "We have six players who were there at the state tournament last year and we haven’t learned. Other teams are not going to play dead for us. We let up in the third game vs. Delta and lost a game we shouldn’t have there. It’s disappointing."Prior to the rematch against Sierra, Coast began Saturday with a 25-23, 25-14, 25-21 win over Sacramento City College, the No. 1 ranked team in the state. Poe Gantt led OCC with 10 kills, while Rachel Freeno had nine kills. Nikki Osuna led the Pirates with 22 digs.Against Sierra, Freeno led Coast with 17 digs, Gantt had 12 kills and Briana Fields added nine kills with a .533 hitting percentage.Skalla recorded a .480 hitting percentage in that contest.OCC will play against Irvine Valley College at 10 a.m. in the semifinal today. The winner will play against Cypress College, who is undefeated at the state tournament, in the final. In the lady Pirates' last match against IVC on Nov. 11, Coast won in five sets 19‐25, 25‐17, 25‐18, 22‐25, 15‐8.The last match against Cypress, on Nov. 4, resulted in a 25‐13, 22‐25, 25‐23, 19‐25, 15‐13 loss.[Photo courtesy of Hank Schellingerhout]
By
Tony Lee
On
Wednesday, December 02, 2009
Orange Coast College’s head women’s volleyball coach Chuck Cutenese reminded his team about all the bleachers they’ve run and all the push ups they did prior to the final set against Moorpark College.“All of that was for this moment right now — being in shape, to be disciplined and to be focused,” Cutenese said to the fifth-ranked lady Pirates Saturday at the Southern California Regional Playoffs.Coast (20-2) responded to their coach’s speech by playing an errorless final game to upset the fourth-ranked Raiders (20-3), 25-22, 19-25, 25-21, 16-25, 15-8, at the Raider Pavilion and move onto the state championship for the second consecutive year.“We’ve worked so hard for this and we were seeded lower than this team,” said sophomore libero Nikki Osuna, who led Coast with 26 digs. “We wanted to show everyone that they need to stop underestimating us.”Osuna, who redshirted last year due to a knee injury and missed the state championship, now has 435 digs for the season and needs 17 more to break the school single-season record (451) set by Ashlee Moon in 2006.“I started crying right at the end,” she said. “From last year, being at state and just watching it, it’s driven me so much just to want to be on the court this year.”Coast sophomore outside hitters Poe Gantt led the lady Pirates with 16 kills with Rachel Freeno trailing behind with 15 kills in the contest.Coast sophomore outside hitter and middle blocker Briana Fields, who finished with 13 kills, added that she doesn’t agree with their ranking.“I personally think we’re better than our ranking,” she said, “but the good thing about being ranked low is that people underestimate you and we can come out and show them what we’ve got.”Fields was the only lady Pirate to be selected for the 2009 All-State SoCal team. She was also one of two players from the SoCal region to be selected for the American Volleyball Coaches Association’s All American first team.“They anticipate she’s going to get the ball and (Field) is hitting against two people every time,” Cutenese said. “I think that shows how good of a player she is.”But Cutenese said freshman setter Kimya Jafroudi, who compiled a game-high 54 assists Saturday, has gone unnoticed and is the lady Pirates’ unsung hero this season.“They make all the decisions and she’s done a fantastic job, especially as a freshman,” Cutenese said of setters. “That’s a lot of pressure on (Jafroudi) and she’s really come through.”Despite being ranked No. 5 at the start, Coast is now the highest-ranked team out of SoCal to make it to the state championship.Now as the No. 1 ranked team, the lady Pirates face fourth-ranked Sierra College Wolverines Friday at the California Community Colleges Athletic Association Women’s Volleyball Championship.The state championship is held at San Joaquin Delta College in Stockton, Calif. and is a double-elimination tournament that ends on Sunday.“I set a goal for this team and it was to get back to the state tournament,” Cutenese said. “We came up against a real strong Moorpark team — they were real physical, real aggressive — and (we) really pulled through at the end and I’m really proud of them.”
[Photos by Tony Lee]
By
Tony Lee
On
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
There’s an unspoken law when it comes to sports when you play a rival.It doesn’t matter if you are injured, tired or trailing by 100 points. You never give up, you play with all the effort in your body and, most importantly, don’t let the rival embarrass you.Ever.But for the Orange Coast College women’s volleyball team, the lady Pirates did get embarrassed, badly, at home, to cross-town rivals Golden West College and I wondered how it’ll affect the team going forward.Coast had a 23-17 lead in the fourth set and needed only two more points to win, but the lady Pirates let the Rustlers go on an 8-1 run and lost its first match of the season on Oct. 7.Coast came into that match not even losing a single set for the season. But after losing its first set, the lady Pirates folded like a lawn chair and choked against its toughest opponent this season.
“I’m completely disappointed in my team’s performance, especially in game four.” Coast head coach Chuck Cutenese said back in Oct. 7 when his team lost 22-25, 25-23, 25-21, 29-27. “We came out in game one and played well, then we got flat in game two and flat in game three. You know, good teams don’t lose (after leading) 24-21. We lost our focus. People couldn’t put the ball away. We weren’t swinging to win; we were swinging not to lose.”This was the turning point in Coast’s season. If the women fail to bounce back from this embarrassing loss, then the No. 3 ranked lady Pirates might throw away a potential state championship-winning team.In that match, many of the fans were even pro-Rustlers. OCC fans were outnumbered in a good five-to-one ratio.Coast libero Nikki Osuna (bottom) said “It didn’t even seem like our own gym” and outside hitter Rachel Freeno (top) said "We're a lot better than we played - a whole lot better. And we'll get them next time in their gym."There’s something to be said about getting embarrassed – not lose but completely get pummeled by a rival – because the lady Pirates bounced back strong since then.Since Oct. 7, Coast has won its last seven matches – three sweeps and three hard-fought five-set matches – and moved back up to No. 5 in the state rankings.But most importantly, Freeno was right. The lady Pirates did get Golden West Friday (Oct. 30) by sweeping the No. 11 ranked Rustlers 25‐16, 25‐15, 25‐20.What didn’t kill the lady Pirates made them stronger. If Coast makes it to the state championship, it’ll be because of how the team bounced back from that embarrassing loss to a rival.
EDIT
The lady Pirates' winning streak came to a halt Wednesday (Nov. 4) when the seventh-ranked Cypress College defeated Coast in five sets 25-13, 22-25, 25-23, 19-25, 15-13.
I guess I jinxed it huh?
To read that game summary written by OCC's Sports Information Director Tony Altobelli, click here.
[Photo courtesy of Hank Schellingerhout]
By
Tony Lee
On
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
The Orange Coast College women's volleyball players help out the men's team whenever they can.Christina Richards, Kelly Garis, Rachel Freeno and Briana Fields (going left to right) were sitting at the announcer's booth taking stats for today's game and took time out of their busy schedules for a photo-op. I want to give a shout out to Christina Richards because she's a staff writer on the Coast Report. She works hard, meets the deadlines and makes my job as an editor easy. So thank you Christina. [Click here to read her feature on the men's volleyball team]Good luck in the fall season ladies. [Photo by Tony Lee]
Orange Coast College women’s volleyball team understands the saying “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” a bit too well from doing “boards” at their practices.
