Volleyball falls just short of title

By Emily D’Amico

The Vikings fell to Orange Coast College in the CCCAA men’s volleyball championship three sets to two on May 29.

The Vikings were narrowly defeated by the Pirates with the game going to the full five sets. LBCC never lost a set by more than five points.

The turning point in the match came in the fifth set. “Our team captain Sean Nguyen had to get pulled out because of a calf cramp, we had no timeouts left, so we were just kind of scrambling and rolling with the punches,” said head coach Jonathan Charette.

The Vikings lost the final set 15-12. This brought their record to 19-2 on the season. LBCC had an impressive 18 game win streak with 16 of those games resulting in a 3-0 sweep. The Vikings also defeated Orange Coast College twice before they met in the championship.

LBCC was ranked No. 1 for most of the season. They suffered a loss to Irvine Valley College in the second game of the season. From that point on they were nearly perfect until the championship.

Since that game, the Vikings lost four sets the rest of the season with two of those sets coming in the championship.

Because of their success, every team in the state wanted the chance to defeat the Vikings.

“I think it’s kind of cool. It’s something I think we need in order to push us,” said Pennala.

The Vikings secured several conference awards this year with Sean Nguyen receiving Player of the Year and Jonathan Charette received Coach of the Year. Matthew Pennala and Georgi Binev made First Team All-Conference while Cian Slade and Cole Oliver made Second Team All-Conference.

“Now our shift will be that this moment does not define us, we still have a lot of work to do in the classroom now so we’re going to shift to be champions there,” Charette said.

The Vikings will be losing a few key players such as Sean Nguyen and Julian Zavala due to them being sophomores, but the coaches are dedicated to helping guide those players in their journeys to the next level.

Many of the Vikings starters are freshman such as Pennala, Binev, Slade and Oliver, and have the option to return next year.

Despite the loss, the Vikings will still be ranked very high next year. Coaches and players have high hopes to make it back to the championship.