Men's volleyball team stays unbeaten in conference
Mar 20, 2008
The Irvine Valley men's volleyball team got off to a slow start, but sure finished strong Wednesday night in a Pacific Coast Conference match against Grossmont.
The Lasers struggled at times in the first game, but then cruised to a 30-25, 30-18, 30-14 win at home.
The victory kept Irvine Valley, which is the defending state champion, undefeated and at the top of the conference standings with a record of 6-0.
The win was also the Lasers' ninth straight overall and their ninth victory this season in straight games.
Irvin Valley improved its record to 11-1 overall.
"We are right where we want to be at this point in the season," Irvine Valley Coach Tom Pestolesi said. "We just have to keep it going."
Irvine Valley had its problems early on with the 1-10 Griffins Wednesday night.
The Lasers led, 25-24, when they reeled off five of the next six points to take the first game.
"I thought Peter Johnson really saved us in that first game," Pestolesi said. "We rode him to the win. We just made too many mistakes."
But the Lasers cleaned it up after that in rolling to the sweep.
The 30-14 win in the third game matched the team's easiest frame of the season.
"We stopped making errors," Pestolesi said. "We passed better and just played solid overall. Everyone picked it up."
Johnson, the defending conference player of the year, led IVC in kills for the fifth time in a match this season with 16.
Johnson added three digs, three blocks and three aces. Sophomore outside hitter Morgan Suttich had seven kills and three aces, sophomore middle blocker Adam El-Rakabawy added six kills and six blocks and freshman middle blocker Nick Martus had six kills and two blocks for the Lasers.
Sophomore libero Kaleo Baxter finished with a team-high eight digs and freshman setter Phil Younglove had 38 assists.
IVC has a bye on Friday and returns to conference action at San Diego Mesa next Wednesday.