Golden West and Orange Coast played the match of a lifetime, but the Pirates handed the Rustlers a 5-set 27-25, 20-25, 25-21, 17-25, 14-16 loss at home.
The match started with a quick Golden West (4-4, 0-1) lead. It was sustained throughout the set until Orange Coast (8-0, 1-0) was able to catch up late and force extra points. After earning point 26, Alvin Truong threw up a fantastic serve the Pirates could not handle.
Set 2 was a completely different story as Orange Coast jumped out to an early lead and sustained it the entire set. Driving the Pirates was the middle duo of Nick Amado and Jim Webb as they kept Golden West from gaining any momentum.
Golden West came out for the third set swinging and created an early 7-1 lead. That lead was kept for the entire set bringing the Rustlers one set closer to handing the Pirates its first loss of the season.
At first, the fourth set was a back-and-forth contest, but Orange Coast distanced itself thanks to the fine play of Amado, Webb and Ty Hutchins. Golden West was not able to bounce back and the Pirates tied the match and forced a fifth set.
Once again, it was anyone's set as both teams exchanged blows and Golden West went into the change with an 8-6 lead. Unfortunately, fate did not go the Rustlers' way as Orange Coast forced extra points and earned the victory.
What kept Golden West in the match was incredible play from the boys up front totaling 59 kills on the day. Kevin Gorence led the offensive charge with 18 kills, which went along with great offense from Jared Chasse and Garrett Covey who had 15 kills apiece.
Offense was not only on display as the back row made some insane digs to allow the attackers to do their work. Libero Jarrett Neal led the way with 19 digs to go along with Gorence's 13 and Covey's 10. Fifty-nine must have been the magic number as that was how many digs were totaled by the Rustlers in the match.
Golden West will look to capture its winning ways as the Beach Boys head down to San Diego on Friday and come back home against Palomar on March 5.
