Irvine Valley's beach volleyball team wrapped up the Orange Empire Conference Pairs Championship on Saturday with three of its pairs qualifying for the So. Cal. Regionals, including the standout duo of sophomores Barett Nolan and Chloe Swanson.
Nolan and Swanson had quite a day, reaching the final before falling in three sets to the top-seeded team of Brisa Zapata-Reaves and corinne Williams from Orange Coast, 19-21, 21-7, 15-8.
The first set was tied at 19-19 when IVC won the final two points on a Pirate serving and then hitting error.
Orange Coast jumped out to a big lead in the second set at 8-2 after an Irvine Valley hitting out.
And the Pirates never looked back. Two aces by Zapata-Reaves put OCC ahead, 13-5.
Orange Coast out-scored Irvine Valley, 8-2, the rest of the way.
The Pirates carried that momentum into the start of the third set, jumping out to a 3-0 advantage.
OCC led, 6-2, after a kill by Zapata-Reaves and, 12-7, after a setter dump by Zapata-Reaves.
Another kill by Zapata-Reaves ended the match four points later.
Nolan and Swanson still won three of four matches on the afternoon, including beating the team of Sydney Brown and Lilyann Horner of Saddleback, 21-7, 21-13, in the semifinals.
Two other pairs qualified to the regionals for the Lasers. They were the duos of sophomore Gabi Brown and freshman Sydney Dews and sophomore Angie Griego and freshman Tessa Marocco.
Brown and Dews ended up finishing sixth in the event, while Griego and Marocco were 10th.
Both pairs won matches in three sets to earn their spots.
Brown and Dews defeated Izzy Duchaine and Theresia Amtmann from Orange Coast, 16-21, 21-15, 15-9, and Griego and Marocco battled to beat Kaiden Raif and Matilde Teixeira of Santa Ana, 21-19, 14-21, 17-15.
Nolan and Swanson and Brown and Dews each earned first team all-conference nods for their efforts, while Griego and Marocco were named second team players.
Next up for the Lasers is the team regionals Tuesday where Orange Coast will host at the Newland Courts in Huntington Beach. IVC takes on Orange Coast at 10 a.m. and then Rio Hondo at 11 a.m.
Orange Coast is the No. 3 seed, Rio Hondo is seeded seventh and IVC is No. 10.
The winner of the day moves on to the CCCAA State Championship the following week at West Valley College in Saratoga.
