Irvine Valley's women's volleyball team is heading into the postseason with some momentum.
The Lasers won their third straight match and earned the biggest victory of their season on Monday night.
IVC knocked off the No. 7-ranked team in the state, MiraCosta, in five sets in a nonconference match at home.
Irvine Valley came out on top, 22-25, 25-16, 20-25, 25-23, 18-16, in a match that took two hours and 32 minutes to complete.
The Lasers, ranked No. 22 in the state, handed MiraCosta only its fourth loss of the season. The Spartans had already wrapped up the Pacific Coast Athletic Conference North Division.
Irvine Valley finishes the regular season with a record of 14-6 overall. MiraCosta fell to 23-4.
IVC now awaits the playoff pairings, which will be released on Thursday.
Irvine Valley trailed in sets, 2-1, but battled to take the fourth and fifth sets.
The Lasers led, 23-20, in the fourth set, but MiraCosta tied it at 23-23 with three straight points, including an ace by Cady Francis.
But Irvine Valley rallied back and took the set with a kill by sophomore opposite Juju Cannon and then a MiraCosta hitting error.
The fifth and final set was a back and forth thriller. MiraCosta led, 4-2, after a kill by Violeti Faleumu, but IVC scored four straight points. A kill by Cannon gave the Lasers a 6-4 advantage.
But the set was then tied at four times before Irvine Valley went ahead, 11-9, on a net contact and then hitting error by the Spartans.
MiraCosta tied things at 11-11 on a kill by Maddison Penrod and an IVC net contact.
The Spartans took a 12-11 lead on a kill by Clair Kinder and IVC tied the score at 12-12 on a kill by freshman right side Diamonique Brogan. An ace by freshman outside hitter Adrienne Graycochea put the Lasers in front, 13-12.
Penrod came back with a kill to tie the score again. MiraCosta moved to match point at 14-13 on a kill by Kinder.
But a MiraCosta hitting error tied the match at 15-15. The Spartans gained another match point at 16-15 on a kill by Faleumu, but a lift call on MiraCosta pulled Irvine Valley back even at 16-16.
The Lasers won the next two points to end the marathon match.
Cannon came through with a kill and then sophomore middle blocker Hailey Riden and Cannon combined for a block to finish it.
Cannon finished with 14 kills, sophomore outside hitter Lucee Fitzgerald had 13 kills and 15 digs freshman outside hitter Taira Ka'awaloa added 10 kills and 12 digs.
Sophomore libero Taylor Askins had a team-best 20 digs, sophomore middle blocker Hailey Riden contributed eight block assists, freshman setter Savanah Schroeder ended with 23 assists and nine digs and sophomore setter Alissa Blevins finished with 22 assists and nine digs
