Irvine Valley's men's volleyball team played well and had its chances, but fell to Blizzard Volleyball in four sets on Friday night at home.
Blizzard, a professional squad out of Lake Forest, competes in the eight-team National Volleyball Association.
The team included former Irvine Valley players David Grandy, Brandon Directo and Kyle Radecki.
Blizzard came out on top, 34-32, 25-20, 25-20, 25-17.
Irvine Valley had its eight-match win streak snapped and saw its record slip to 8-2 overall.
The Lasers got 13 kills and 13 blocks from sophomore middle blocker Matt August to lead the way. August, who leads the state in blocks per set and hitting percentage, also hit .417 for the night.
Sophomore outside hitter Patrick Furlong added 13 kills, sophomore outside hitter Brennan To contributed five kills and hit .357 and freshman outside hitter Trent Williams had three kills, 12 digs and three blocks.
Freshman libero Kelsey Yogi finished with 10 digs and sophomore setter Austin McBain ended with 33 assists, seven digs and five blocks for the Lasers.
In the third set, August had back-to-back kills to give Irvine Valley a 24-19 advantage. Two points later Directo served long for Blizzard to give IVC the set.
But Blizzard jumped out to a 9-4 lead in the fourth set and never looked back.
Irvine Valley plays again on Wednesday, taking on LA Trade-Tech at home at 6 p.m. The Lasers then start Orange Empire Conference action on Friday at Santiago Canyon at 6 p.m.
