Irvine Valley's men's volleyball team had a special run to the championship match of the California Community College Athletic Association State Championship last week.
They also had several players honored recently for their efforts during the regular season.
Freshman middle blocker Grant Marocchi and sophomore outside hitter Sean Carroll were each named first team all-Orange Empire Conference and freshman opposite Demetre Gossett and freshman middle blocker Tristan Belsby were each chosen to the second team.
The players helped Irvine Valley finish the 2019 season with a record of 15-8 overall and a 5-3 mark in conference.
Orange Coast dominated the regular season, conference play and the awards handed at the recent coaches meeting to honor the OEC all-conference teams.
Orange Coast went 21-0 during the regular season and ended the won the conference title going away with a record of 8-0.
The Pirates dropped just one set in conference action, finishing with seven sweeps.
Sophomore outside hitter Kyle McCauley was named the conference's most valuable player. He averaged 3.15 kills per set overall and 2.48 in conference action. McCauly hit .370 for the season and also averaged 1.32 digs per set.
In all, five Orange Coast players were named all-conference.
Joining McCauley were sophomore middle blocker Jake Loudenback, freshman middle blocker Aiden Wolf-Nielsen and sophomore outside hitter Jack Flynn to the first team and sophomore libero Braden Neumann to the second team.
Loudenback averaged 1.53 kills and 1.56 blocker per set overall and hit .575, while Wolf-Nielsen was also very efficient, averaging 1.80 kills and 1.20 blocks per set and hitting .533 overall.
Flynn came through with 2.00 kills and 1.21 digs per set overall and Neumann led his team in digs (116 total) at 1.97 per set.
But Irvine Valley, which upset Orange Coast in the semifinals at the state event and took second in the conference standings, had four players honored.
Marocchi led the Lasers in blocks on the year with 70 (1.09 average) and added 2.11 kills per set, while Carroll paced the team in kills at 2.75 per set. Marocchi has signed to play at Long Beach State next year.
Gossett led IVC in hitting at .314 in conference action and also averaged 0.94 aces per set. He averaged 2.47 kills per set overall. Belsby averaged 1.69 kills per set and hit .403.
Santiago Canyon freshman outside hitter Matt Roussin was one of the leaders in kills all season long. His 4.07 kills average per set and 277 total kills helped the Hawks to their first ever playoff appearance.
Santiago Canyon also had sophomore opposite Caleb Twyman and freshman libero/outside hitter Davis Hombrecher make the second team.
Golden West was represented by sophomore outside hitter Matthew Coleman on the first team and sophomore libero Tomas Beralas and freshman opposite Miguel Flores Jr. on the second team.
And rounding out the all-conference teams were sophomore outside hitter Garrett Geiger on the first team and freshman outside hitter Asontae Lewis-Owens on the second team.
Tim Johnson was named coach of the year for the conference for guiding Santiago Canyon to a third-place finish in the conference standings, a 11-9 record overall and a trip to the CCCAA State Playoffs. The Hawks scored wins over ranked teams like Grossmont, Golden West, Fullerton and Irvine Valley this season.