Men's volleyball team holds on to win at OCC
Apr 03, 2008
The Irvine Valley men's volleyball team was pushed for the first time in Pacific Coast Conference play Wednesday night at Orange Coast.
Irvine Valley won the first two games, lost the next two and rallied to win the fifth game to stay unbeaten in conference at 9-0. The victory snapped a 16-match home win streak for Orange Coast dating back to 2006.
The defending state champion Lasers (14-1 overall) used a late run in the final stanza to hold off the Pirates, 30-24, 30-24, 30-32, 25-30, 15-13.
It was Irvine Valley's first five-game match of the season and only the fourth time in 15 matches that a contest has gone past three games.
Orange Coast (10-6, 6-3) led, 13-12, in the fifth and deciding game, but a hitting error by the Pirates evened the game at 13-13.
IVC went ahead, 14-13, after an OCC return went into the net and on the next play Orange Coast's final hit went wide, ending the match.
Irvine Valley was led by freshman middle blocker Nick Martus, who had 13 kills, three blocks and eight digs. Sophomore outside hitter Morgan Suttich also finished with 13 kills. It was the third time in the last five matches that Martus has led IVC in kills and the second time Suttich has led the team in kills this season.
Sophomore outside hitter Peter Johnson added 12 kills, three blocks and seven digs, sophomore middle blocker Adam El-Rakabawy had nine kills and four blocks and sophomore outside hitter Tim Golden contributed nine kills and six digs.
Sophomore libero Kaleo Baxter had eight digs and freshman setter Phil Younglove ended with four blocks and 54 assists.
After hitting an astounding .551 as a team in a straight-game win against Golden West last week, the Lasers came back down to earth against Orange Coast, finishing at .288.
Irvine Valley is averaging hitting .364 as a team on the season.
Kevin Welch led OCC with 25 kills, which moved him into first place on the school's all-time kills list.
Irvine Valley plays at San Diego City on Friday at 6 p.m.