Gabriela Griego, Women's Volleyball

Gabriela Griego, Women's Volleyball

Irvine Valley’s athlete of the week for Sept. 9 is women’s volleyball player Gabriela Griego.

The sophomore outside hitter is off to a hot start for the 5-0 Lasers.

She is averaging an impressive 3.20 kills per set with a sky-high hitting percentage of .487.

Griego is also averaging 0.73 digs per set.

She has recorded at least six kills in all five matches so far this season, but has really shined in the last four contests.

She had nine kills with just one error in 15 attempts (.533 hitting percentage) in Irvine Valley’s sweep of Canyons on Aug. 30.

She then had 10 kills in Irvine Valley’s sweep of Chaffey.

And last Friday, she recorded 13 kills with no errors in 14 attempts (.929 hitting percentage) when IVC defeated Palomar in straight sets in the first of two matches on the day. Griego followed that up with 10 kills, eight digs and a .353 hitting percentage in Irvine Valley’s sweep of Cal Lutheran’s Junior Varsity team in the afternoon.

Griego had 14.0 points against Palomar and 12.0 points against Cal Lutheran JV.

She is coming off a solid freshman season in 2018 where she was part of an Irvine Valley team that had a record of 21-2 overall, won 18 straight matches to start the season, captured an Orange Empire Conference title and made another trip to the CCCAA State Championship event in Solano.

And in the spring, she also made the state event as part of the IVC women’s beach volleyball team. The squad was named Irvine Valley's team of the year as part of the athletic department's 19th Annual Awards.

The Lasers finished tied for third at the CCAA State Championship in May, went 15-1 against community college opponents on the year and won the Orange Empire Conference with a record of 10-0.

The former Corona Santiago High standout also made the state event as a pairs team with now sophomore teammate Anna Unke. The duo won its pool and made the second day of the event in Chula Vista.