Pirate Volleyball Seeded No. 9 in SoCal Regional Playoffs

Fresh off their first Western State Conference North Division championship in 13 years, the Ventura College volleyball team received the No. 9 seed in the CCCAA Southern California Regional Playoffs Thursday. The Pirates (17-4) will travel south to Costa Mesa to battle the Orange Coast College Pirates (21-5) who received the No. 8 seed in the draw, on Tuesday Nov. 20. OCC defeated Ventura in three sets in the first match of the season on Aug. 29.

Since that season-opening loss, the VC Pirates have been on a roll, winning 17 of 20 matches, including 11 straight at one point. One of the losses was  5-set marathon against Fullerton and another came days after the loss of VC alumna Kirra Drury '15 in a boating accident on the Colorado River. The Pirates of the North swept defending WSC co-champions Santa Barbara and Moorpark, to claim the outright title, the program's first since 2005. 

OCC, meanwhile, finished third in the difficult Orange Empire Conference, behind No. 1-seed  Irvine Valley and No. 5 Cypress. Four oftheir five losses came in OEC play. They opened the season with nine straight wins, lost twice each to Irvine Valley and Cypress, and suffered their only non-conference defeat at the hands of No. 3 El Camino. 

The first round match-up will begin at 6:00 pm in Costa Mesa. The winner of the Pirates vs. Pirates match-up will face hte winner of No. 1 Irvine vs. the lowest remaining seed of No. 61, 17 ro 18 following Saturday's play-in round.