Men's volleyball team ready for state tournament
Apr 26, 2006
The Irvine Valley men’s volleyball team is hoping for
a repeat of what happened at last year’s state volleyball
championship. The team hosting the event, Moorpark, won the title.
Irvine
Valley is set to host the 2006 California Community Colleges Commission
on Athletics Men’s Volleyball Championship presented by U.S. Bank
beginning this Friday.
Semifinal matches are at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Friday with the championship match on Saturday at 7 p.m.
The
Lasers, who won the Orange Empire Conference for just the second time
in school history, are one of the top two seeds in the state event.
They
will open the tournament on Friday in the 8 p.m. semifinal against Los
Angeles Pierce. Pierce defeated Golden West in three straight games in
a Southern California Regional Playoff match on Tuesday.
Long Beach City will play in the 6 p.m. semifinal against Santa Monica, which knocked off Orange Coast on Tuesday.
Irvine Valley has captured one state title before. That happened in 1993 when it also won its only other conference crown.
“When
you start your first day in the fall this is ultimately what your goal
is,” Irvine Valley Coach Tom Pestolesi said of reaching the state
championship. “So on Aug. 25 we told our guys that if we play the way
we can – because we knew we had the talent – that we’d be playing the
weekend of April 28. We are here. We are still playing.”
And the Lasers are playing well.
Irvine Valley has won seven matches in a row heading into the state tournament.
It defeated Palomar last week in three straight games to win the conference title outright.
Irvine Valley brings an overall record of 12-4 into this weekend’s action.
“You
can’t ask for anything more,” Pestolesi said. “We won the conference
for the second time ever. We are hosting the tournament. We are on our
home court so we expect our guys to play well.”
But there was
a time when Irvine Valley players and coaches had to question whether
they would even make it this far. After opening conference play with a
victory, Irvine Valley dropped consecutive matches to rivals Golden
West and Orange Coast.
The Lasers were 1-2 in conference and set to face a tough Grossmont squad.
“That
was the turning point,” Pestolesi said. “We had to come back from two
games down to beat Grossmont. We had some guys come in off the bench
and do a good job. After winning that match I think we started to
believe.
“That match was our season. If we lose we could have ended up 4-6 or 5-5 in conference.”
Instead the Lasers finished 8-2 in conference.
“We
started playing volleyball,” Pestolesi said. “We stopped worrying about
who was getting how many kills and who was doing this and that. We
started playing better. Especially the last couple of weeks, the
coaches have noticed that the guys have been picking each other up. The
vibe is great out there on the court.”
Sophomore setter Mike
Bari, sophomore middle blocker Eric Eastman and freshman outside hitter
Tyler Strickland have been the foundation of Irvine Valley’s success
this season.
Strickland was recently named the conference’s
co-most valuable player after averaging 4.48 kills (third best in
conference) and 1.46 digs per game.
Eastman led the conference in hitting percentage at .447 and blocks with 0.95 per game. He also averages 2.90 kills per game.
Bari was second in the conference in assists, averaging 10.63 per game.
But
the Lasers turnaround couldn’t have happened without the play of
sophomore outside hitter Josh Kornegay and freshman outside hitter Matt
Knutson in the second half of conference action, as well as
contributions from freshman libero Adam Albonni and sophomore middle
blocker Kai Hussey.
“Guys have really accepted their roles,”
Pestolesi said. “And our second team has been doing a great job of
pushing the first team in practice. It has made things much more
competitive. Guys like Cory Walker, J.P. Smith, Colby Egkan, Phil Sims
and Morgan Suttich have been great.”
Pestolesi also pointed out the important roles his assistant coaches have played.
“Eric
Olson and Jay Hosack have really held the players accountable for their
effort,” Pestolesi said. “If the guys aren’t giving the effort Eric and
Jay are all over them and it has made everyone have to step up. My
assistant coaches have been awesome.”
Now all that is left is for Irvine Valley to go out and try to win a state title.
“We
are going to give it a shot,” Pestolesi said. “We by far have the
toughest serving team. I hope we can keep that going. If we can pass
the ball well and stay focused I think anything can happen.
“The best thing is that it is here in our gym. I think everyone is going to be really fired up on our team to play well.”