A birthday wish come true

COSTA MESA — Chuck Cutenese got his birthday wish.

On the day he turned 42, the Orange Coast College women’s volleyball coach received what he had asked for earlier in the day when he blew out the candles on his birthday cake: a Pirates’ victory.

It was Long Beach City College which had the birthday wish, as well as an undefeated Orange Coast team working against it Wednesday. The result was a 30-15, 18-30, 30-16, 30-22 nonconference victory for the hosts.

Sophomore Kiwi Winkler, an All-American last season, was in a giving mood, planting a team-high 20 kills against the Vikings, while chipping in 10 digs for Orange Coast which gave Long Beach (2-1) its first loss of the season.

With a birthday amid the start of the women’s volleyball season, the 15th-year coach is familiar with the victory request as he stares down the candles. He won’t say what he’ll wish for in the future for fear of it not coming true, but this birthday had a happy ending.

“I keep hoping they forget,” Cutenese said.

He tried to keep the surprise party under wraps by asking assistant coach Dodi Drozd, the usual organizer, not to remind anybody. But in the absence of Drozd’s planning, freshman outside hitter Jill Sorem came through with the surprise and a postgame present of a birthday cake, as well.

Wednesday was not the only time Cutenese has been surprised this volleyball season. A preseason surprise came wrapped in a 6-foot-1 freshman middle blocker named Jacquelin Reed. Cutenese quickly unwrapped her potential and discovered Reed, who was second on the team with 14 kills, would make a much better outside hitter.

“It’s a great surprise,” Cutenese said. “She has been a middle blocker her whole life. It’s a risk to do that change at this level. We thought she’s a natural. Unfortunately, in our sport, when you’re young and tall you get locked into a position. She’s athletic and hit the ball well and we already had four middle blockers.”

Cutenese didn’t wish for a lost game, but was not disappointed in Orange Coast dropping a game in the regular season for the first time since Nov. 17, 2004, the final match of the season. Last season the Pirates won 73 consecutive games on the way to a 26-0 season and a state championship.

“I’m glad we had our game loss now,” Cutenese said. “We didn’t expect to do it last season. We were not aware of it until the middle of the conference season. The focus put a lot of pressure on the team. This is a different team. I don’t want the sophomores to feel the pressure to live up to that and I don’t want the freshman to feel if they don’t do it, it’s their fault.”

One freshman who is excited about the pressure is setter Chelsea Spadaro, who had 32 assists and four aces.

There is an added weight for Spadaro who replaces Caitlin Parker.

Parker broke the Orange Coast career assist record last season.

“There is quite a bit of pressure, but I can handle it,” Spadaro said. “It makes me step up my game. Everyone has been really nice and helped out.”

And when in doubt, Spadaro can always set it in the direction of Winkler, who was the State Tournament Most Valuable Player last season.

Winkler expects the hitters and the setter to be in complete harmony in two weeks.

“This year, everything is different,” said Winkler who had 408 kills last season. “We have a new team with a lot of freshmen. We can’t look back. We have a lot of potential.”

The Pirates dropped the second game of the match Wednesday.

In the third game, Long Beach jumped to a 7-5 lead, but Winkler delivered a kill and two aces.

Then, Reed added in a kill of her own and Long Beach chipped in with two hitting errors and Orange Coast was ahead for good, 13-7.

“In a 1-1 tie, the third game becomes pivotal,” Cutenese said. “It had a lot to do with the leadership of Kiwi.”

With a little over two weeks before the start of Orange Empire Conference play, Sept. 29, Cutenese will hold off on predictions of how good this Pirates team can be.

“Success is based on how good everyone else is and we don’t know how good everyone else is,” Cutenese said. “I do know that we have athleticism, everyone works hard and we have good leadership. Those are three good ingredients to have.”

The Pirates take on Mt. San Antonio College Friday at Orange Coast at 6 p.m.