Men's volleyball team takes down Fullerton, secures second

Courtesy of On My Game Photography
Courtesy of On My Game Photography

Irvine Valley's men's volleyball team ended the regular season with one of its most important wins of the year.

The Lasers avenged an earlier five-set Orange Empire Conference loss at home to Fullerton with a 25-18, 26-28, 25-15, 25-21 victory over the Hornets on the road Friday night.

Irvine Valley, ranked third in the state, and Fullerton tied for second-place in the conference at 5-3.

With Irvine Valley winning in four sets, it took the tiebreaker over Fullerton (head-to-head set wins) to earn the second place for seedings in the playoffs.

Irvine Valley finished the regular season with a record of 15-5 overall. Fullerton ended at 11-7.

The Lasers won four of their final five matches in the regular season with the only loss being a thrilling, five-set defeat to No. 2 Orange Coast last Wednesday.

IVC bounced back with the win over Fullerton to secure second in the conference and secure a high seed in the playoffs.

On Friday, sophomore outside hitter Patrick Furlong had 14 kills and four blocks, freshman outside hitter Sean Carroll had 10 kllls, sophomore outside hitter Brennan To added nine kills and three blocks and sophomore middle blocker Matt August finished with eight kills and nine blocks.

Sophomore setter Austin McBain ran the offense with 41 assists, five blocks and five digs and freshman libero Kelsey Yogi had a team-high eight digs.

Irvine Valley will learn about playoff pairings on Saturday.