Women's volleyball team finishes off undefeated OEC campaign

Courtesy of On My Game Photography
Courtesy of On My Game Photography

Irvine Valley's women's beach volleyball team finished off an undefeated Orange Empire Conference campaign with two more sweeps on Friday.

The Lasers defeated Saddleback, 5-0, and then Riverside, 5-0, at home to improve their conference mark to 10-0.

Irvine Valley also went to 14-7 overall. IVC is 12-0 against community college opponents.

Irvine Valley won nine of the 10 individual matches on Friday in straight sets.

IVC won each match in straight sets against Saddleback in the opening contest of the day.

Irvine Valley got wins from its teams of sophomore Renata Bath and freshman Lea Kruse, sophomores Emilie Austin and Alyssa Vortouni, freshmen Anna Unke and Gabriela Griego, freshmen Kendall Nolan and Alaina Gendale and freshmen Alison Kent and Alaina Thomas.

Bath and Kruse, the top pair in the OEC this year, defeated Saddleback's top team of Ayla Fresenius and Nickie Huhes, 21-14, 21-12.

Kent and Thomas had the easiest win of the IVC group, defeating, Kayla Castillo and Hayden Black, 21-6, 21-7, on the No. 5 court.

Irvine Valley had some close matches against Riverside, but still swept.

Bath and Kruse beat RCC's Natalie Escher and Vashti Elias-Romero, 22-20, 21-18, on the first court.

Unke and Griego dominated 21-17, 21-4, over Kayla McKinnon and Sadie Arganda, at the No. 2 spot.

Austin and Vortouni won, 21-9, 21-5, over Jasmin Urban and Patricia Brucks on the third court.

Nolan and Gendale defeated Madison Hernandez and Robyn Collier, 24-22, 21-11, at No. 4.

And Kent and Thomas rallied to win, 15-21, 21-6, 15-11, at the fifth position.

Next up for Irvine Valley is the conference individual tournament starting next Wednesday at IVC at 12 p.m.