Irvine Valley's women's tennis team came up just short in its bid for an Orange Empire Conference title on Tuesday.
Irvine Valley went down to the wire before falling to Orange Coast, 5-4, in a match that took nearly four hours at IVC.
The Lasers went into the match trailing Orange Coast by one match in the standings. Irvine Valley needed a win to move into a tie with OCC for the top spot.
But the win secured the conference title for the Pirates, who improved their record to 13-2 overall and 7-1 in conference. It was OCC's last match of the regular season.
Irvine Valley saw its record slip to 6-5 overall and 5-2 in conference.
Both IVC and Saddleback (9-7, 5-2) have one match remaining against each other on Thursday at
IVC to now determine second and third place in the standings.
In singles play, OCC jumped out to a 4-2
Irvine Valley picked up wins at No. 5 singles when sophomore Sierra Mazzarini defeated Charli Crites, 6-4, 6-3, and freshman Lou Baize won after Cecilia Arzaga retired in the first set with Baize up, 5-4.
In doubles, Irvine Valley won two of three matches, but it wasn't enough.
IVC's No. 2 team of Baize and freshman Samantha Paz won, 8-4, and the No. 3 team of Mazzarini and sophomore Karina Ryabokonova came out on top, 8-5.
OCC clinched the match with a 8-2 win at No. 1 doubles by Clarisa Colling and Karen Trinh.
Orange Coast 5, Irvine Valley 4
Singles
1) Clarisa Colling (OCC) def. Sarah Mae Garcia (IVC), 6-3, 6-3
2) Karen Trinh (OCC) def. Samantha Paz (IVC), 6-3, 6-2
3) Lou Baize (IVC) def. Cecilia Arzaga (OCC), 5-4 (retired)
4) Lauren Saito (OCC) def. Karina Ryabokonova (IVC), 6-2, 2-6, 6-2
5) Sierra Mazzarini (IVC) def. Charli Crites (OCC), 6-4, 6-3
6) Janine Panas (OCC) def. Stephanie Rand (IVC), 6-2, 6-5 (retired)
Doubles
1) Colling/Trinh (OCC) def. Garcia/Schwarz (IVC), 8-2
2) Paz/Baize (IVC) def. Arzaga/Dahlberg (OCC), 8-4
3) Mazzarini/Ryabokonova (IVC) def. Saito/Crites (OCC), 8-5