Men's volleyball team wins fifth straight with sweep of Knights

Courtesy of Toni Lavacot
Courtesy of Toni Lavacot

There was no letdown for the Irvine Valley men's volleyball team on Friday night.

The Lasers kept rolling, following up their dramatic five-set win at Orange Coast on Wednesday with a sweep of San Diego City in a Pacific Coast Athletic Conference match at home.

IVC came out on top, 25-14, 25-17, 25-12.

Irvine Valley remained in a tie for first place in the conference, improving its record to 10-3 overall and 8-1 in conference.

The Lasers have now won five straight matches and nine of their last 10.

Sophomore opposite/setter Arek Halaj continued his strong play with nine kills, five solo blocks and nine assists.

Freshman outside hitter Peter Van Liefde and sophomore outside hitters Trey Bernal and Josh Schmidt each added five assists. Bernal also had five digs and two aces in the contest.

Freshman setter Jake Adams finished with 20 assists and sophomore libero Billy Crow ended with 16 digs.

Irvine Valley cruised in each and every set.

The Lasers scored the final four points to take the first set. Sophomore Kevin Dell had a block, Van Liefde came through with a kill, Dell had a kill and then Dell spiked an overpass to end the set.

IVC jumped ahead in the second set. Irvine Valley scored the first three points. Dell gave the Lasers a 3-0 lead with a kill.

Later, a kill by sophomore middle blocker Matt Mittry put Irvine Valley in front, 13-5.

The Lasers took a 16-6 lead on back-to-back kills by Schmidt and Dell.

Consecutive kills by Mittry, Bernal and Halaj gave IVC set point at 24-16. Two points later, a San Diego City service error finished off the set.

Irvine Valley went on a 8-3 run midway through the third set to take control. A kill by Halaj put the Lasers up, 17-9.

Kills by Van Liefde, freshman middle blocker Marcus Molina and sophomore middle blocker Nate Kofman made it 24-11.

And Van Liefde put away with win with a kill.

Irvine Valley plays at Palomar next Wednesday night before hosting Grossmont next Friday at 6 p.m.