Men's volleyball team opens with sweep of Moorpark
Feb 07, 2007
The Irvine Valley men’s volleyball team opened the 2007 season with a straight-game victory over Moorpark in a non-conference match at home Wednesday night.
The Lasers came out on top, 30-26, 30-24, 30-26.
Irvine Valley wasn’t as sharp as when it captured the preseason Long Beach City Tournament two weeks ago.
But the Lasers did enough, especially at the end of games, to pull out the victory.
"We weren't quite at our best, but I was happy because we made good runs at the end of each game to put them away," Irvine Valley Coach Tom Pestolesi said. "We made the plays, whether it was digging a ball or handling a tough pass or getting a kill to win the points at the end."
Irvine Valley led, 24-22, in the first game, but then scored four points in a row to take control for good.
Freshman libero Sean Grubbs’ ace gave the team a 28-22 advantage.
Moorpark got to within 29-26 after an IVC hitting error. But freshman outside hitter Marcus Fernandez put the game away with a kill.
The second game was close throughout with each team having the lead.
Moorpark was ahead, 20-19, when Irvine Valley went on a 7-0 run.
Freshman outside hitter Peter Johnson gave IVC a 21-20 lead with a kill and the Lasers never looked back.
A block by Johnson, a block by Fernandez and a kill by Johnson on consecutive points put Irvine Valley ahead, 26-20. Fernandez later put the game away with a kill.
Irvine Valley pulled away again late in the third game to earn the straight-game sweep.
Johnson led the Lasers on the night with 17 kills, six digs and five blocks.
Freshman outside hitter Rory Jones added 11 kills, freshman middle blocker Bryan Simmons had five blocks and Grubbs had a team-high seven digs. Pestolesi was also impressed with Grubbs' passingon the night. He finished with a 2.56 passing percentage on the night.
And freshman Tyler Rex set the team to a .309 hitting percentage and finished with 43 assists.
The win was the first in what should be many for Irvine Valley this season. The Lasers are hoping to get back to the state tournament again in 2007. They were knocked out in the semifinal round a year ago.
"This team can do a lot of things," Petstolesi said. "We have a lot of depth, we have excellent ball control, we have hitters and middles and a good setter and libero. The leadership is also very solid and I think the vibe among everyone on the team is pretty darn good."
Johnson led the Lasers in kills on Wednesday, but Pestolesi said a number of different players could step up throughout the season.
"Peter (Johnson) will be one of the guys," Pestolesi said. "But we expect to get kills from Rory (Jones) and Ted (Slaughter) and Bryan (Simmons) too. And Marcus (Fernandez) and Cory (Walker) will be in the mix as well."
Slaughter and Simmons make up an imposing middle blocking tandem for the Lasers. Pestolesi could only remember having one 6-8 player on a previous IVC team.
"Not many college teams anywhere have two 6-8 guys, so we feel lucky," Pestolesi said. "Those guys are going to make a big difference for us this year.
"This team is going to be a real fun one to watch all year," Pestolesi added.
Irvine Valley plays a non-conference match at Santa Monica on Friday at 6 p.m.