The Irvine Valley women’s volleyball team, which is ranked 10th in the state, swept its fifth straight opponent and earned its seventh consecutive win to start the season Wednesday night. The Lasers defeated Palomar, 30-13, 30-21, 30-21, in a non-conference match at Irvine Valley.
The Lasers head into their Orange Empire Conference opener on Friday with a record of 7-0. Six of the wins have come in three-game sweeps.
The only team the Lasers didn’t sweep was San Diego Mesa on Sept. 5. And that was a four-game victory.
In the win over Palomar on Wednesday, Irvine Valley got 15 kills, nine digs, three blocks and three aces from sophomore outside hitter Chelsea Pavlik. It was the seventh straight match Pavlik has led the team in kills. Sophomore middle blocker Jessica Flood added nine kills and a team-high five blocks (four on block assists) for the Lasers.
IVC also got a solid all-around performance from freshman outside hitter Camryn Torromeo, who had team-best six aces to go along with eight digs and three kills. Sophomore defensive specialist Brooke Bryant contributed six digs and sophomore setter Kelly Keating had 36 assists.
Palomar's record slipped to 3-4 on the season.
Irvine Valley opens conference play on Friday at Santa Ana at 5 p.m. The Dons had a record of 2-2 heading into this week’s action. IVC was only one of two undefeated conference teams heading into the week.
And the only other team, Riverside, had played just two matches so far this season. IVC is expected to be in the mix for the conference title along with Orange Coast, Golden West and Fullerton.