In leading up to the start of the 2016-17 athletics campaign at Irvine Valley, which starts on Aug. 26 with women's soccer hosting a match, the Laser athletic department will count down the top 10 IVC sports stories from the 2015-16 school year.
The No. 8 story on the list was the women's volleyball team winning its third Orange Empire Conference title in a row. The team finished with a record of 16-6 overall and was 12-2 in the Orange Empire Conference. IVC also won a match in the Southern California Regional Playoffs. Sophomore Kayla Scheevel was named the conference player of the year and five other Laser players made all-conference squads.
Irvine Valley's women's volleyball team won another Orange Empire Conference championship.
The Lasers clinched their third title in a row with a 25-21, 25-27, 25-21, 25-18 victory over Cypress on sophomore night at IVC in November.
The victory put Irvine Valley, ranked No. 19 in the state, two matches ahead of both No. 15 Cypress and No. 18 Fullerton with just one contest left to play in the regular season.
Capturing a title was quite an accomplishment for a team that saw six players move on to play at four-year colleges last year, including four at the Division 1 level.
The Lasers, who went undefeated and won the state title a year ago, returned just four players and two starters from last season's squad.
"I am proud of each and every one of these kids," Irvine Valley coach Tom Pestolesi said. "I wasn't sure what to expect early in the season, but we kept getting better and better throughout. And look at where we are tonight. We are a totally different team than we were in August."
The win was also a milestone for Pestolesi, who earned his 300th victory at the college.
Irvine Valley got big nights from several players in the win Friday.
Freshman right side Olivia Aguilar finished with 20 kills and hit .386. Sophomore outside hitter Kayla Scheevel had 16 kills, 24 digs and three aces. Sophomore outside hitter Hannah Matt added 13 kills, six blocks and seven digs. Sophomore libero Emily Reinking had 25 digs, freshman defensive specialist Cozette Hawyrliak chipped in 11 digs and four aces and sophomore setter Jenna Olbright contributed 51 assists.
Irvine Valley closed out the regular season with a sweep of Orange Coast and then easily took care of San Diego Mesa in the first round of the playoffs, 25-15, 25-15, 25-6.
"It is one of the best matches we've played," Pestolesi said. "Our kids are playing so together right now. It is just fun to watch them play."
The Lasers, who moved on to the second round of the playoffs on Saturday, got 15 kills from Aguilar, nine kills and nine digs from Scheevel and five kills each from freshman middle blockers Hailey Riden and Kayla Shields.
Reinking finished with 12 digs and four aces and Olbright had 32 assists and eight digs.
"Everything was working right," Pestolesi said. "And the balance we've had has been great. This team just continues to gain confidence."
Irvine Valley only made six hitting errors all night and was only blocked once.
The Lasers saw their season end in the second round of the playoffs, falling at Santa Barbara City in four tough sets.
But Scheevel was named the conference's co-player of the year and five other Lasers were picked to all-conference teams.
Scheevel averaged 3.11 kills and 3.49 digs per set overall and 3.15 kills and 3.43 digs per set in conference for the Lasers.
Scheevel ranked eighth in the conference in kills per set and seventh in digs per set. She also hit .302 in conference action.
Scheevel shared MVP honors with Cypress sophomore outside hitter Madison May.
Irvine Valley had three other first team all-conference players.
They included Olbright, who led the conference in assists per set at 11.57, Reinking, who was fourth in the conference in digs per set at 4.41, and Matt, who averaged 2.70 kills per set in conference and ranked second in hitting percentage during conference at .351.
Irvine Valley's second-team performers were Riden and Aguilar.
Riden led both the overall stats and conference numbers In blocks per set. She averaged 1.11 block per set in conference and 1.05 blocks overall. She also hit .455 in conference and averaged 1.93 kills.
Aguilar steadily improved for the Lasers throughout the season. She ended up ranking sixth during conference play in kills per set at 3.42, sixth in total kills at 154 and also hit .288.