After a slow start, the Irvine Valley men's volleyball team picked up steam and defeated Santa Barbara City in four sets on Friday night in Santa Barbara.
The Lasers, ranked No. 1 in the state, earned a 13-25, 25-20, 25-9, 25-20 victory to improve their record to 8-1 on the season.
IVC got a big night from freshman outside hitter Patrick Furlong, who finished with 19 kills and hit .361. Furlong also had three blocks, three aces and two digs in the match.
Santa Barbara City's record fell to 3-8 overall.
Santa Barbara City played well in the first set and IVC didn't, hitting -.250
The Vaqueros hit .235 in the first set and .281 in the second with 11 kills and two errors.
SBCC enjoyed leads of 7-1, 15-6 and 20-9 on an ace by Jarrod Jordan in the opening set. The Vaqueros capped off the 25-13 win with four straight points on a kill in the middle by Jarrett Futch, a roof block by Jonathan Baldwin, a combination block by Futch and Quinlan Dougherty and an ace by Jackson McDonough.
The Lasers found their rhythm in the second set, jumping ahead, 5-0, on an ace by sophomore libero Josh Evers and taking a 16-11 lead on a backrow kill by Furlong. Reynaert slammed a kill to ignite a 9-3 run that gave the Vaqueros their first lead of the set at 20-19. IVC closed it out with a 6-0 run, capped by another ace from Evers, who had six aces in the match.
Irvine Valley grabbed leads of 9-1 and 17-5 in the third set on the way to a convincing 25-9 victory.
The Lasers led for most of the fourth set as well, going ahead, 12-6, on an ace by sophomore outside hitter Ruben Lopez and a hitting error by the Vaqueros. SBCC pulled within 16-11 and 19-13 before getting within two (21-19) on an ace by Stephen Trevitt.
But, IVC scored four of the next five points to close out the match on a kill by freshman middle blocker Matt August, two aces by Furlong and a kill down off the block by August on match point.
Reynaert topped the Vaqueros with 10 kills but also had seven hitting errors for a .086 percentage. Futch added seven kills and a .462 hitting percentage with three blocks and McDonough had seven kills and a team-high 10 digs.
Lopez added 12 kills and eight digs, August chipped in nine kills and four blocks and freshman setter Austin McBain finished with 47 assists for IVC.
Irvine Valley plays two matches at home next week. It hosts El Camino on Wednesday at 6 p.m. and then starts Orange Empire Conference play on Friday with a home match against new program Santiago Canyon at 6 p.m.