Pirates gather themselves, earn sweep

“We came out on our heels a little bit,” Carroll said, “so it was tough those first two games. But then, it went pretty well.”

OCC dominated the third game, which ended with a handful of subs on the floor for both teams.

“Carroll probably played his best match of they year,” said Turner, who said he adjusted the lineup to both experiment and not allow Long Beach an easy scouting read.

“Our lineup was a little flipped,” Turner said. “We did some different things just to test it out, in case we need it this weekend. I don’t think we expected [the Corsairs] to play the way they played. That’s probably my fault.

“I thought in the third game, we kind of came out with a different mentality. We were a little more aggressive, especially Paul [Leon, a sophomore setter who had 36 assists].”

Hemmerling contributed 10 kills nine digs and two aces, while freshman libero Harrison Phelps had a team-best 12 digs.

Freshman middle blocker Jeff Patton and freshman opposite Troy Tomasello head five kills each for the winners.

“I don’t feel good about the way we played tonight, but I have confidence in this team,” Turner said. “These guys have been through it and it’s a pretty mature group.”

Carroll agreed.

“We’ll be more pumped for [Long Beach],” Carroll said. “I don’t know why, but tonight was a little bit dead. Thursday will be a good one.”