The Irvine Valley women’s volleyball team came to play in its showdown with Cypress Wednesday night at Irvine Valley.

Irvine Valley, ranked fourth in the state, swept No. 5 Cypress 29-27, 25-14, 25-23, in a key early season Orange Empire Conference match.

The Lasers stayed unbeaten and took control of the conference standings, improving its record to 8-0 overall and 4-0 in conference. Cypress, which was coming off a tough five-game loss to Orange Coast last Friday, saw its record slip to 9-4 overall and 2-3 in conference.

"Obviously, it was a big win," IVC Coach Tom Pestolesi said. "Cypress is so tough. They play so hard and dig everything. It is always a difficult match-up for us."

The Lasers got off to a bit of a rocky start, but rebounded and came up with big plays at crucial times to pull out the victory. Down, 14-10, in the opening game, IVC scored five straight points. Carly Loucks capped the run with a block to put IVC up, 15-14.

The game was back and forth the rest of the way. There were six lead changes and 10 ties before IVC took a 28-27 lead on a kill by Hillary Crone. An ace on the next point won the first game for the Lasers.

IVC rolled in game two, jumping out to a 10-5 lead and never looking back. A block by Loucks and Katie Wilkerson put Irvine Valley ahead, 14-8. An ace by Sarah Atilano gave Irvine Valley a 19-11 advantage and back-to-back aces by Alyssa Swatek put the Lasers up, 22-12.

A kill by Wilkerson gave Irvine Valley game point at 24-14 and a lift called on Cypress ended the game.

Irvine Valley looked like it might use the momentum to cruise in game three, getting out to a 10-7 lead.

But Cypress battled back. The Chargers tied the game at 10-10 and led by as many as five points at 22-17 on a kill by Marina Samoa.

IVC got back in the game on a kill by Crone and then consecutive aces by Wilkerson.

Still, Cypress led, 23-20, after a kill by Samoa.

But the Chargers didn’t score another point.

The Lasers pulled to within 23-22 on a block by Caitlin Segert. An ace by Loucks made it a 23-23 game and after a Cypress timeout, a hitting error gave IVC match point.

Ellie Wiekmap put the finishing touches on the win with a kill.

"We were probably a bit fortunate to win games one and three," Pestolesi said. "But give our kids credit. When the games got tight we made the plays. We made them when we had to have them."

Wiekamp led IVC with 11 kills. Crone and Wilkerson each added seven kills. Setter Allie Hammer finished with 32 assists and seven digs. Wilkerson also had seven digs and three aces. Loucks and Crone finished with three blocks each.

Irvine Valley plays another top team on Friday, traveling to eighth-ranked Orange Coast.