Men's volleyball team captures its best win of the season

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

The Irvine Valley men's volleyball team was swept by Orange Coast at home on Mar. 15.

It was a different story in a battle of two of the best teams in the state Friday night at OCC.

The Lasers, ranked third in the state, won the first two sets, dropped the next two, but came through with a 15-8 win in the fifth set to pick up their best victory of the season, taking down No. 2 Orange Coast.

Irvine Valley moved into a tie for first place in the Orange Empire Conference with the 29-27, 25-17, 21-25, 18-25, 15-8 triumph.

No. 3 IVC ended the night with 34 digs and 16 blocks.

Freshman outside hitter Damon Kooiman was the star for IVC. He came through with 15 kills, hit .545 (15-3-22) and chipped in with two digs.

Sophomore opposite hitter Demetre Gossett had 13 kills, a season-high seven aces and added eight digs.

Sophomore middle blocker Julio Gutierrez ended with eight kills, hit .462 and had five blocks. Freshman setter Kaina Alvarez recorded 39 assists and had nine digs and sophomore libero Adam Schulte had 12 digs and four assists for IVC.

The Lasers play again next Friday at home, hosting Golden West at 6 p.m.