Irvine Valley’s women’s volleyball team won its sixth straight match, sweeping Riverside, 25-15, 25-23, 25-16, Wednesday night at home.
The victory moved IVC a step closer to its second straight Orange Empire Conference title. The Lasers improved their record to 13-4 overall and 9-1 in conference. The team went into Wednesday night one match ahead of second-place Golden West.
Irvine Valley, with four contests remaining in conference, has a very important match Friday night when it hosts Orange Coast at 5 p.m. OCC is the only team so far to defeat Irvine Valley in conference play.
The Lasers, ranked sixth in the state, didn’t have much trouble with visiting Riverside on Wednesday. The match took just an hour and 10 minutes to complete.
Irvine Valley cruised in the first and third games. The second game was a little more of a struggle. The Lasers fell behind, 6-0, before battling back. The match was tight late, tied at 23-23, when IVC won the final two points.
Freshman middle blocker Kelsey Hall had a tip for a winner and then freshman outside hitter Casey Williams came up with a solo block for a point on Riverside’s Janet Ugaitafa to end the game.
Up 10-7, in the third game, the Lasers went on a six-point run – that included two aces by sophomore libero Amanda Donaldson and two kills by Williams – to go ahead, 16-6.
Two kills by Williams within a three-point span gave Irvine Valley an 18-9 advantage.
Riverside got as close as 22-16 on a kill by Brittney Rush, but the Lasers closed out the game and the match by scoring the final three points.
Williams had a block, sophomore Katie Pascoe had a tip winner and then Riverside’s Rush hit a ball into the net.
IVC was led by Williams with 11 kills, including seven in the final game. Freshman Nichole May finished with nine kills and Hall had eight kills. Hall also finished with three blocks.
Freshman defensive specialist Alyssa Swatek led the team with eight digs. Donaldson and sophomore Mari Guadagnini each had five digs. And freshman Allie Hammer contributed 37 assists and three aces.