When a match goes to five games, Irvine Valley College men's volleyball coach Tom Pestolesi likes his team's chances.

Irvine Valley outlasted Long Beach City College to capture the 2007 California Community Colleges Commission on Athletics Men's Volleyball Championship in five games at Santa Monica College on Saturday night.

The Lasers won by the scores of 30-25, 27-30, 32-30, 16-30, and 15-13 to upset defending state champion Long Beach and earn its second ever state title. The first one was in 1993.

"I think a lot of people figured we didn't have a chance against Long Beach," said Pestolesi. "We struggled most of the match, but we did better at the end of the fourth, so we knew we would be ok in the fifth. Obviously Long Beach is a great team, but we won six out of seven five-game matches (this season), so we were confident."

Irvine Valley won its final three matches of the season in five games, beating Grossmont at home on April 28 to earn a share of the Pacific Coast Conference title. It then defeated Pierce in five games Friday night in a state semifinal contest.

Irvine Valley took advantage of numerous Long Beach City hitting errors and used a strong blocking attack to take the first game Saturday night. Long Beach City jumped out to an early 8-3 lead before IVC rallied to tie it up 12-12. Irvine Valley led, 26-21, before Long Beach came within two points at 27-25. But the Vikings didn't get any closer.

Long Beach City evened the match with its 30-27 win in the second game. Long Beach never trailed, but Irvine Valley got as close as 21-19 before the Vikings got two kills and an ace from opposite Adam Church on their way to a 6-2 scoring run to take their biggest lead of 26-21.

Church led the Vikings with eight kills in the game.

Irvine Valley came back late in the third game to steal the lead. Irvine Valley trailed deep into the game and finally tied it up at 27-27. Libero Sean Grubbs' ace gave IVC its first lead at 31-30 and a kill by outside hitter Marcus Fernandez wrapped up the game win.

"We basically stole game three," Pestolesi said. "That was the match right there. Like I said yesterday, the team that wins game three usually goes on to win the match."

"We needed to put them away in game three," said Long Beach City head coach Randy Totorp. "Our serving was off and we gave them a bunch of free points along with the win."

Long Beach forced a fifth game by cruising to a 30-16 win in game four. Long Beach City surged to a 16-6 lead and never faltered. Outside hitter Richard Carmerlengo led Long Beach with seven kills in the game.

In the deciding game five, Long Beach and IVC traded points and were tied at 5-5. Long Beach took a 6-5 advantage before Irvine Valley got an ace from Grubbs and two points on LBCC errors to go ahead, 8-6, as the team switched sides on the court.

"Coming out with that lead was huge," Pestolesi said. "We forgot all about that fourth game and came out strong (in the fifth)."

Irvine Valley had leads of 10-7 and 14-11 before Long Beach mounted a late attempt at a comeback.

A kill by Church and an IVC hitting error got the Vikings within one point at 14-13. But a finishing strike down the middle of the court by outside hitter Peter Johnson was the championship point for Irvine Valley.

"Irvine Valley really peaked as a team," said Totorp. "They really came together since we last played and beat them."

Long Beach City defeated IVC in the Lasers' fourth game of the year (Feb. 16) in four games.

Fernandez and Johnson both totaled 14 kills to lead Irvine Valley in the title match. Middle blocker Ted Slaughter added 13 kills and four blocks and Grubbs added 10 digs. Setter Tyler Rex chipped in with five digs and four blocks.

Outside hitter Naseri Tumanuvao did his best to keep Long Beach in the match. He led all with 17 kills and 17 digs and added five blocks. Outside hitter Derrick Seay also had a good night, posting 15 kills, 10 digs and three aces and Church added 17 kills, seen blocks, and three aces.

With the win, Irvine Valley closed its season with a 17-3 overall record while Long Beach ended with a 16-3 mark.

The state title win marked the second time that Irvine Valley defeated Long Beach in the championship final. In 1993, IVC beat LBCC 3-1.