Honorable Mention Story of the Year - Volleyball scholars

Honorable Mention Story of the Year - Volleyball scholars

In leading up to the start of the 2016-17 athletics campaign at Irvine Valley, which starts on Aug. 26 with women's soccer hosting a match, the Laser athletic department will count down the top 10 IVC sports stories from the 2015-16 school year.

Honorable mention on the list was the scholar athlete accomplishments by a few women's volleyball players and the beach volleyball program. Awards went out to the 2015 beach team as a scholar athlete team winner by the state, former standout Marisa Doran as an state honor roll recipient and to Emily Reinking and Kayla Scheevel as California Community College Women's Volleyball Coaches Association Scholar Athletes for the fall of 2015.

Irvine Valley's beach team was also named as a CCCAA Scholar Athlete Team winner for the 2014-15 school year. A team was picked in each of the sports sponsored by the state.

The Scholar Team Award is the highest academic team achievement given annually by the California Community College Athletic Association. All team members must have excelled academically with a total GPA of 3.0 or higher. The team should have demonstrated better than average accomplishments in intercollegiate athletic competition.

Irvine Valley's squad recorded a grade point average of 3.47. It was the third-highest out of the 22 sports in the state for the 2014-15 school year.

Members of the team included Reinking, Samantha Holdredge, Hannah Matt, Hailee Earnest, Scheevel, Juju Cannon, Shaelyn Perez, Annie Mitchem, Kobi Pekich, Sarah Allen-Baines, Makani Wall, Taylor Askins, Rachael Woods, Samantha Goodman, Marisa Doran, Carleigh Petersen and Hailey Jones.

The team was also a success on the court, capturing the inaugural CCCAA State Championship and having the pairs teams of Doran and Pekich, Mitchem and Reinking and Earnest and Holdredge win state individual titles.

Doran was one of eight female student athletes to be named to the 2015 Scholar Athlete Honor Roll.

The Scholar Athlete Award is the highest student achievement honor awarded annually by the CCCAA. The winners, along with the rest of the annual honor roll, are selected by the CCCAA Awards Committee from nominations made by community colleges throughout California.

Candidates for the Scholar Athlete Award must carry a minimum GPA of 3.5 and must also show outstanding leadership as an athlete, student, or in other college and community activities, as well as have participated in two seasons of sport at a California community college.

Doran, who is now playing both indoor and beach at the University of New Mexico, helped Irvine Valley win state team titles in both indoor and beach volleyball and was an individual beach state champion.

This spring, Reinking and Scheevel were named to the California Community College Women's Volleyball Coaches Association Scholar Athlete Team for the fall season of 2015.

To be named to the team, players had to complete at least one season of competition with a minimum of 24 units accumulated from the beginning of the first season of competition along with a minimum of a 3.5 grade point average in those accumulated unites.

Eighteen players from throughout the state were named to the academic squad.

Along with shining in the classroom, Reinking and Scheevel helped Irvine Valley to its third Orange Empire Conference in a row and make the second round of the Southern California Regional Playoffs.

The Lasers ended with a record of 16-6 overall and were 12-2 in conference play.

Scheevel, an outside hitter, was named a co-most valuable player of the conference.

She averaged 3.11 kills and 3.49 digs per set overall and 3.15 kills and 3.43 digs per set in conference for the Lasers.

Scheevel ranked eighth in the conference in kills per set and seventh in digs per set. She also hit .302 in conference action.

Reinking, who played libero, was fourth in the conference in digs per set at 4.41. She averaged 4.18 digs per set overall.

Reinking had 18 matches with double figure digs, including four matches with 20 digs or more. She had a season-high 25 digs in Irvine Valley's four-set win over Cypress at home.

Reinking, who won the state pairs title for beach volleyball this spring, was later named as Irvine Valley's female scholar athlete of the year.

Both will be playing at Division 1 universities in the coming school year.

Scheevel is headed to TCU to play indoor volleyball and Reinking will play beach volleyball at Grand Canyon University.