Irvine Valley's men's volleyball team opens the 2014 CCCAA State Championship with a quarterfinal match at Long Beach City Friday night at 6 p.m.
IVC is one of four teams playing in the quarterfinals to try and earn a chance to face El Camino and Orange Coast in the state championship semifinals next Wednesday. The state final is set for April 25 at 7 p.m.
The semifinals and finals will be held at Santiago Canyon College.
Western State Conference champion El Camino and Pacific Coast Athletic Conference winner Orange Coast have been named the top seeds and earned byes into the semifinals.
Irvine Valley, which finished third in the Pacific Coast Athletic Conference, takes on Long Beach, which placed second in the Western State Conference.
Irvine Valley returns to the postseason after a one-year absence and is in the playoffs for the ninth time over the past 10 seasons.
This season, Irvine Valley compiled a 12-7 overall record and finished third in the PCAC at 8-4.
Irvine Valley is trying to win its fifth state title (1993, 2007, 2008, 2010).
The Lasers are led by fifth-year head coach Ki Yi.
Long Beach enters the state tournament for the ninth straight season and comes in with a 15-4 overall record.
The Vikings went 9-3 in conference play to finish in second place in the WSC.
Long Beach has won eight state championships overall (1976, 1980, 1982, 1985, 2004, 2006, 2009, 2012).
Last season, the Vikings fell to Grossmont 3-1 in the state championship semifinals.
Long Beach is led by third-year head coach Jonathan Charette.
Long Beach City and Irvine Valley played earlier this season. The Vikings swept the Lasers on Feb. 21 at Long Beach.
The other quarterfinal on Friday features Grossmont, which finished second in the PCAC, hosting Santa Monica, which was third in the WSC.
The winner of Friday's Grossmont/Santa Monica match will face El Camino in Wednesday's 5 p.m. state semifinal and the Long Beach/Irvine Valley winner will take on Orange Coast in the 8 p.m. semifinal at Santiago Canyon.
