The Irvine Valley women’s volleyball team had one of its more impressive victories of the season Friday night.

The Lasers swept a short-handed Fullerton squad, 25-21, 25-19, 25-16, in an Orange Empire Conference match at home.

"We still have some things to work on," IVC coach Tom Pestolesi said. "We can be a little more diverse on offense. But I thought we were very efficient tonight. To beat any team in three straight games is not easy."

Irvine Valley took control from the start. A three-point run gave the Lasers a 19-15 lead in the opening game. Sophomore outside hitter Mari Guadagnini later closed out the game with a kill.

Irvine Valley jumped out to a 15-8 lead in the second game. Fullerton, which was without top hitter Jade Esquivel, didn’t get closer than five points the rest of the way.

A block by freshman middle blocker Caitlin Segert put IVC ahead, 19-12. And a tip winner by Segert gave the Lasers a 20-14 advantage. An ace by freshman Nichole May gave Irvine Valley its largest lead of the game at 23-14.

IVC led, 24-17, when Fullerton scored two straight points. But a tip winner by freshman back-up setter Lanie Titterud after a nice dig to keep the point alive by May put the Lasers up two games.

The third game, like the first two, was all Irvine Valley, at least early. The Lasers ran off four straight points to go ahead, 7-2. Fullerton climbed back to within 10-9 on an ace by Reilly Stevens. But that was as close as the Hornets would get.

Irvine Valley scored three straight points, capped by a kill by freshman outside hitter Casey Williams, to take a 12-9 lead.

Another kill by Williams put IVC up, 16-12. And Irvine Valley had its largest lead of the game at 23-15 on one more kill by Williams.
Williams finished off the three-game sweep three points later when she solo blocked Fullerton’s Leah Haproff attempt at a kill.

Guadagnini led IVC with 15 kills.
"I thought she did a great job tonight," Pestolesi said.

Williams added eight kills, sophomore libero Amanda Donaldson finished with a team-high 16 digs. Freshman Alyssa Swatek had nine digs. And freshman setter Allie Hammer contributed 31 assists.
"We all thought Alyssa (Swatek) made some really nice plays on the ball tonight," Pestolesi said. "She focused on some things in practice this week and it really showed."

Irvine Valley (8-4, 4-1) stayed in at least a tie for first place in the Orange Empire Conference. Heading into Friday’s action, the Lasers were tied with Orange Coast, Cypress and Golden West for first place.
Golden West was playing Cypress Friday night in a key match-up.

Irvine Valley is back in action next Wednesday, traveling to Santa Ana on Wednesday.