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Women's volleyball team improves to 11-0
Oct 10, 2007
The Irvine Valley women’s volleyball team, ranked eighth in the last state poll, continued its best start in school history with a dramatic five-game, come from behind victory over No. 2 Fullerton Wednesday night in an Orange Empire Conference match at Irvine Valley.
The Lasers trailed two games to one, but pulled out the final two games to come away with the 30-25, 29-31, 18-30, 30-23, 15-9 win.
IVC improved its record to 11-0 overall and 4-0 in conference. Fullerton slipped to 9-3 overall and 2-2 in conference.
"We are having a lot of fun, but we don't really think about 11-0," IVC Coach Tom Pestolesi said. "We are playing well, but we can always get better and we still have work to do. My focus now is on practice tomorrow."
After struggling in the third game, the Lasers turned things around in game four. Two big runs did the job.
With the game tied, 7-7, IVC went on a 9-2 spurt to take control. Included in the run were blocks for points by freshman middle blocker Katie Pascoe and sophomore setter Kelly Keating, tip winners by Keating and sophomore outside hitter Chelsea Pavlik as well as a block and a kill by Pavlik.
Fullerton didn’t go away, climbing back to within 16-14 after a block by Leah Haproff.
The Lasers then used an 11-6 run to all but put the game away. Two big kills by sophomore middle blocker Jessica Flood, a kill by Pavlik an then a kill by Pascoe helped put the Lasers ahead, 27-20. Another kill by Pavlik set up game point and then two points later Fullerton committed a serving error to set up game five.
IVC jumped out to a 5-2 lead in the final game on a kill by Pavlik. Fullerton caught Irvine Valley at 5-5 after an ace by Nicole Coffer and then an IVC passing error.
But Fullerton never took the lead in the final game. The two teams were tied, 8-8, when IVC scored five straight points. The points came on a kill by Flood, having Keating win a joust at the net, a kill by Pavlik, Flood stuffing an overpass and a kill by freshman outside hitter Mari Guadagnini.
Fullerton stopped the streak with a kill by Gina Conley, but the Lasers won the next two points to pull out the game and the match. Flood earned a kill on a slide play and then Pavlik ended things with a kill crosscourt.
The loss was Fullerton’s second straight. The Hornets fell to Orange Coast, the top-ranked team in the state, in four games last Friday. The five-game win was IVC’s second in its last three matches. It beat Golden West in five games on Oct. 3.
Pavlik led the way with 23 kills and a season-high 22 digs for Irvine Valley Wednesday night. Pavlik has paced Irvine Valley in kills in all 11 matches this season. The 23 kills were her second highest total of the season. She had 25 in the win over Golden West last week.
"Chelsea didn't have a great night, but she still ended up with 23 kills and she was there when we really needed her down the stretch," Pestolesi said. "She came up with some huge swings. I thought one of the real keys for us tonight was the play of Mari (Guadagnini)."
Gaudagnini’s 19 kills were a season high as were Keating’s 59 assists.
Flood added 11 kills, freshman outside hitter Camryn Torromeo had 10 kills and freshman libero Amanda Donaldson finished with 20 digs for IVC.
Conley had 21 kills, 22 digs and four aces, Haproff added 13 kills and seven blocks and Coffer finished with seven kills, 26 digs and three aces for the Hornets.
Irvine Valley plays again on Friday, hosting Saddleback in a conference match at 6 p.m.
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