Irvine Valley's men's volleyball team moved back above .500 in the Orange Empire Conference with a 25-14, 25-19, 25-15 win over Santiago Canyon at home on Wednesday night.
The Lasers had dropped their last two games in conference play, losing at Orange Coast in three tough sets on Mar. 23 and then falling in a five-set contest to Fullerton at IVC last Friday.
Irvine Valley improved its record to 13-4 overall and 3-2 in conference with Wednesday's win.
The Lasers cruised in the first set and then pulled away late in the second.
Up, 19-16, in the second set, freshman outside hitter Sean Carroll recorded back-to-back kills to put the Lasers ahead, 21-16.
And then kills by Carroll and sophomore outside hitter Patrick Furlong made it 23-17.
IVC got to set point on a Santiago Canyon hitting error and two points later, freshman middle blocker Coco Touya and Carroll combined for a block to end the set and put IVC ahead, 2-0.
Irvine Valley had little trouble in the third set, racing out to a 18-9 lead.
The Lasers took a 23-12 advantage on a kill and then a block for a point by Touya.
Irvine Valley reached match point at 24-14 on a block by Furlong and then two points later, sophomore outside hitter Miles Hamro ended the match with a kill.
Irvine Valley hit .557 on the night. Furlong led the way, hitting .632. He had 13 kills and added six blocks.
Carroll had 10 kills and hit .500. Sophomore outside hitter Brennan To ended with nine kills and five digs and freshman outside hitter Trent Williams had five kills and hit .571. Touya chipped in five blocks, freshman libero Kelsey Yogi had five digs and sophomore setter Austin McBain finished with 37 assists.
Irvine Valley has three big conference matches in a row coming up to end the regular season. The Lasers, ranked No. 4 in the state, are at Golden West on Friday at 6 p.m. They then host No. 2 Orange Coast next Wednesday at 6 p.m. in the Annual Dig Pink Night match and then are at No. 6 Fullerton next Friday.
