The Irvine Valley men’s volleyball team was stunned at home Wednesday night.

The Lasers had a 13-match win streak come to a crashing halt after getting swept on sophomore night by Palomar, 33-31, 30-22, 30-27, in a Pacific Coast Conference match.

The loss also broke a 16-match home win streak for the Lasers. IVC last lost in Hart Gymnasium on April 28, 2006 in the semifinals of the state tournament to Los Angeles Pierce.

The team’s last defeat at IVC during the regular season was on March 3, 2006 in three games to Long Beach City.

“Hand it to Palomar because they played great,” IVC Coach Tom Pestolesi said. “But this is also my fault. I told the guys after last Friday that we had won the conference title and were in the state tournament. We were flat tonight.”

IVC (15-2, 10-1) had already wrapped up its third straight conference title with a sweep at San Diego City last Friday. The winner of the Pacific Coast and Western State conferences earn automatic berths into the state event. The state tournament will be held at Irvine Valley April 24 and 26.

Palomar (8-8, 6-4) moved into striking distance of third place in the conference with the victory.

The Comets won a very tight first game and then rolled from there. No more than three points (IVC led, 16-13, and, 17-14) separated the two teams in the first game all the way through.

Irvine Valley had game points at 29-28 and 30-29, but couldn’t close it out.

An ace by Sam Richmond gave Palomar a 31-30 advantage. IVC tied it at 31-31 on a kill by sophomore outside hitter Morgan Suttich. But IVC made two straight errors – a serve in the net and a kill attempt hit out – to give Palomar the first game, 33-31.

"We win that first game and you never know what happens," Pestolesi said.

The second game got away from the Lasers midway through. Irvine Valley closed to 16-15 on a Palomar hitting error. But the Comets then went on a 12-5 run to take control.

A kill and then an ace by Steve Schleicher gave Palomar a 28-20 lead. The two teams sided out the rest of the game with Casey Sawyer closing out the game with a kill.

Palomar never trailed in the third game and led by as many as eight points (24-16).

Irvine Valley went on a 6-0 run late. It pulled to within 25-24 on a kill by sophomore middle blocker Adam El-Rakabawy. But Palomar answered with two straight points to stop IVC’s momentum.

And then six points later, the Comets put the match away on a kill by Sawyer.

“We got it handed to us on our home gym tonight,” Pestolesi said. “You hate to play like that, but it could also be a good thing. It could be a wake up call that we need.”

IVC closes out the regular season on Friday with a conference match at Grossmont.