Irvine Valley's men's volleyball team had a tough night against one of the best teams in the state.
Orange Coast won its fifth straight match with a 25-18, 25-20, 25-19 win over the Lasers on Friday night at Irvine Valley.
Orange Coast improved its record to 14-2 overall and 7-1 in the Pacific Coast Athletic Conference, while Irvine Valley's record fell to 7-7 overall and 4-4 in conference.
The Pirates stayed on the heels of Golden West for first place in the conference. OCC went into Friday's action a match behind Golden West for first place. Golden West was scheduled to take on third-place San Diego Mesa.
Irvine Valley dropped into a tie for fourth place with Grossmont.
Orange Coast jumped out to comfortable leads in each and every set on Friday.
In the third and final set, the Pirates took a 17-10 advantage on a kill by Jordan Hoppe and OCC led, 22-15 after an ace by Wyatt Henson.
Orange Coast reached match point after an IVC net call. The Lasers stayed alive with back to-back points on an overpass kill by freshman middle blocker Jake Heinrichs and a kill by sophomore middle blocker Robert Ryley.
But Adrian Faitalia put the contest away with a kill on the next point.
Faitalia and Ginaluco Grasso each finished with nine kills to pace Orange coast. Matthew Ujkic added six kills and five blocks and Jake Adams contributed 22 assists.
Irvine Valley got eight kills each from freshman outside hitters Garret Costello and Ruben Lopez and six kills and two blocks from Heinrichs. Sophomore setter Peter Van Liefde had 26 assists and eight digs for IVC.
Irvine Valley, which has lost three straight, plays again next Wednesday, traveling to San Diego City for a 7 p.m. conference match. The Lasers are home again next Friday, hosting Palomar at 6 p.m.
