The Irvine Valley women’s volleyball team all but wrapped up its second straight Orange Empire Conference title with a thrilling five-game win over Orange Coast Friday night at home.
The 21-24, 26-24, 25-23, 25-27, 15-6 victory improved Irvine Valley’s record to 14-4 overall and 10-1 in conference. The Lasers stayed one-match in front of second-place Golden West.
IVC, which is ranked sixth in the state, takes on Fullerton, Santa Ana and Saddleback in its final three matches of the regular season. The Lasers beat each of those teams in three straight games earlier this year.
Orange Coast, looking to knock off IVC for the second time this season, led for most of the first three games. The 14th-ranked Pirates put the first game away on a kill by Briana Fields.
OCC was up for much of the second game as well. They led, 14-10, 17-14, and later, 20-19. But IVC kept fighting. The teams were tied at 21-21, 23-23 and 24-24.
A solo block by Laser freshman middle blocker Carly Loucks, one of her team-high seven blocks, and then an OCC hitting error gave IVC the win and tied the match.
The third game was a lot like the second. The Pirates were ahead by as many as five points early on and let late, 20-19, before IVC tied it at 20-20 on an OCC hitting error.
Back-to-back kills by freshman outside hitter Casey Williams put IVC ahead, 22-20. Orange Coast came back with two straight points. A kill by Christina Richards tied it at 22-22.
But the momentum swung back the other way again as IVC responded with two points in a row, including having Loucks stuff an overpass to make it 24-22. Two points later IVC won the game on an OCC hitting error.
Orange Coast fought off a match point in the fourth game to stay alive. IVC led, 24-23, and had a couple of chances to put the game away, but OCC won a long back-and-forth point on a tip by Fields.
An IVC hitting error gave Orange Coast game point at 25-24, but sophomore outside hitter Mari Guadagnini’s kill made it 25-25.
Orange Coast won the final two points of the game, getting a bump winner by Rachel Freeno and then a kill by Jessica Botkin to tie the match up at two games apiece.
It was all Irvine Valley in the fifth game. The Lasers jumped out to a 6-0 advantage, later led, 11-3, and never looked back. Freshman Nichole May played a big part in the great start to the fifth game.
She had five kills and a block in the game. They were part of her team- and season-high 21 kills for the match in what was a real breakout performance.
An ace by Guadagnini set up match point at 14-4 and three points later, sophomore outside hitter Katie Pascoe tooled the block for a kill to end it.
Besides May's 21 kills and 10 digs, Guadagnini had 15 kills and eight digs and Williams finished with 14 kills. Sophomore libero added 15 digs and three aces, freshman defensive specialist Alyssa Swatek had 10 digs and freshman Allie Hammer contributed a season-high 57 assists and eight digs.
IVC plays at Fullerton next Wednesday at 6 p.m.