Men's volleyball team hosts Golden West Friday night in battle for first place
Mar 27, 2008
The Irvine Valley men's volleyball team hosts Golden West Friday night in a battle for first place in the Pacific Coast Conference at 6 p.m.
IVC ran its record to 12-1 overall and 7-0 in the Pacific Coast Conference with a straight-game win at San Diego Mesa on Wednesday.
Golden West remained in second place in conference (8-5, 6-1) - one match behind IVC - with a win over Grossmont at home on Wednesday.
The Lasers defeated the Rustlers in three straight games the first time the two teams met, but Golden West wasn’t at 100 percent.
Since that loss and with a full lineup, the Rustlers have won six matches in a row.
Several players in this match are among conference statistic leaders. For Golden West, Gary Slade is second in kills at 4.49 per game, Trevor Eliot is tied for seventh at 3.17 kills and Pat Connolly is ninth at 2.88.
Eliot leads the conference in hitting percentage at an impressive .544. GWC’s Mitch Caldwell is second at .504.
Connolly ranks tied for third in blocks at 1.33 per game, Eliot is fifth at 1.28 and Caldwell is sixth at 1.07 per game.
The Rustlers’ Kirk Francis is tops in the conference in digs at 4.79 per game and setter Jake Maosi is second in conference in assists per game at 11.81.
For defending state champion Irvine Valley, Peter Johnson ranks third in the conference in kills at 3.89 per game, Reese Haine is fourth at 3.48 and Morgan Suttich is 10th at 2.63. Nick Martus ranks third in hitting percentage at .476, Suttich is sixth at .379, Adam El-Rakabawy ranks seventh at .373 and Haine is eighth at .357.
El-Rakabawy leads the conference in blocks, averaging 1.40 per game. Martus is tied for third at 1.33 and Haine is seventh at 0.97 per game. IVC’s Kaleo Baxter is third in digs in the conference at 3.08 and Tim Golden ranks eighth at 1.88. Phil Younglove leads the conference in assists at 13.72 per game.