Pirates blank Santa Barbara, 5-0, in state quarterfinals

COSTA MESA -- It was another dominating performance for the Orange Coast College women's tennis team as the Pirates rolled to a 5-0 win over visiting Santa Barbara City College in the second round of the Southern California Regional Playoffs on Tuesday at the OCC Tennis Complex.

"Great performance from the girls today," OCC head coach Chris Ketcham said. "Very pleased as it was an all around solid team effort. Everyone put in good shifts while supporting each other."

With the win, the No. 2-seeded Pirates (22-1) will take on top-seeded L.A. Mission College (23-0) on Saturday in the state semifinals, beginning at 2 p.m. at the El Cariso Park Tennis Courts.

Coast started out strong in doubles as the No. 1 team of Mebuki Kitakuni/Kaylee Ho doubled-up the SBCC top pair of Iris Besmer and Alice Guillaumond, 8-4.

At No. 2 doubles, OCC's Chantel Kamel/Ava Bocek needed a tiebreaker to pull out a 9-8 win (7-2 in the tiebreaker) over Luccia Noel-Jungclaussen/McCarley Trigg. OCC also picked up a win by default at No. 3 doubles, giving the Pirates a commanding lead heading into singles play.

With the Vaqueros (16-3) needing to default No. 6 singles, Coast needed just one singles win to return to the State Final Four and it was turned in at No. 5 singles by Bocek, who rolled to a 6-0, 6-2 win over SBCC's Nicole O'Malley. 

Up next is a rematch with the top-seeded Eagles, with the winner heading to the 3C2A Women's Tennis State Championship, which takes place on April 22 at Ventura College.

"Saturday's match vs LA Mission will be difficult as our only loss is against them," Ketcham said. "However, we're looking forward to the challenge of a rematch."

The win pushes the Pirates back into the State Final Four for the fourth consecutive year and it's the sixth State Final Four appearance for Coast over the past eight years, dating back to 2017 (2020 and 2021 seasons excluded due to COVID).