Men's volleyball team's season ends in playoff opener at home

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

Irvine Valley's men's volleyball team had its season end earlier than expected on Friday night.

The Lasers, ranked second in the state and seeded second in the California Community College Athletic Association Playoffs, fell to No. 7 Moorpark at home.

Moorpark earned a 25-15, 26-24, 25-23 victory over the Lasers.

And the Raiders moved on to the semifinals of the state tournament next Thursday at El Camino College.

Moorpark will take on No. 3 Orange Coast in one semi with No.4 San Diego Mesa facing No. 1 Long Beach City in the other.

It just wasn't the Lasers' night on Friday. Irvine Valley had a hitting percentage of just .153 as a team and had 13 serving errors and 17 ball handling errors in the three sets.

Sophomore opposite Demetre Gossett paced IVC with 14 kills and three aces. But no other player had more than five kills for IVC. 

Freshman setter Kaina Alvarez finished with 24 assists, sophomore libero Adam Schulte contributed seven digs and sophomore middle blocker Julio Gutierrez had three blocks.

Irvine Valley, which shared the Orange Empire Conference title with Orange Coast, ended its season with a record of 16-3 overall.

Moorpark, which finished tied for second in the Western State Conference, improved to 13-6 overall.