Men's volleyball team tops Long Beach City
Feb 20, 2008
The Irvine Valley men’s volleyball team bounced back from its first loss of the season with a straight-game victory (32-30, 30-21, 30-28) over Long Beach City at home Wednesday night in a non-conference contest.
The Lasers (3-1) also handed Long Beach City (3-1) its first loss of the year.
The match featured the last two state title winners (IVC in 2007 and LBCC in 2006) and the two teams that met for the state championship last season.
The first game was close throughout. From 21-21 on, not more than one point separated IVC and Long Beach City until the Lasers closed things out.
Long Beach City had a game point at 29-28 but a net call on the Vikings kept Irvine Valley alive. Irvine Valley then got a block for a point from freshman middle blocker Nick Martus to go in front, 30-29.
Long Beach City’s Joseph Strotman tied things at 30-30 with a kill. The Lasers then ran off two straight points to take the first game. A kill by sophomore outside hitter Peter Johnson and then a block by sophomore middle blocker Adam El-Rakabawy on Long Beach City’s Dane Mulligan ended it.
Irvine Valley took control of game two with an 8-2 run to go up, 17-10. Long Beach City closed to within four points at 22-18, but didn’t get any closer. A block by Martus for a point gave IVC game point and Strotman fired a kill attempt out to give the Lasers the game.
Long Beach City had the lead early in the third game. The Vikings went up, 10-7 on a kill by Casey Bennett.
But Irvine Valley chipped away and tied things at 15-15 on a kill by sophomore outside hitter Tim Golden.
The Lasers took a 16-15 lead after a Long Beach City hitting error.
It was back and forth the rest of the way.
Long Beach City held leads of 24-21 and 25-23 before IVC rallied. The Lasers tied the game at 25-25 on a kill by Golden. And after Long Beach City took a 26-25 lead, Irvine Valley ran off three straight points, capped by a LBCC hitting error.
The Vikings tied the game at 28-28 on a kill by Strotman and an IVC hitting error.
But the Lasers came through again at the end of another game. They got a kill by Golden to set up match point and then closed the contest out on a Long Beach City net violation.
Johnson led IVC with 14 kills. He added five digs and two blocks. Golden had 11 kills and seven digs, freshman outside hitter Reese Haine finished with 10 kills and eight digs and Martus had seven kills and two blocks for Irvine Valley.
Sophomore libero Kaleo Baxter contributed eight digs and freshman setter Phil Younglove ran the offense with 45 assists.
Irvine Valley plays again on Friday at 2 p.m. at home against Santa Monica. The early start is because Irvine Valley is also hosting women's and men's basketball games that evening.