Irvine Valley's women's volleyball team begins Orange Empire Conference play tonight when it hosts district rival Saddleback at 6 p.m.
The Lasers are off to an impressive start. They have not only won four matches in a row to begin the 2018 campaign, but IVC has yet to drop a set.
Irvine Valley won 25-22, 25-12, 25-8, at Palomar on Wednesday night.
IVC, which is the defending state champion and ranked No. 1 in the state, got off to a bit of a slow start in the first set, but picked it up after that.
Irvine Valley also improved its win streak to 31 dating back to 2016.
IVC hit an impressive .420 on the night, which was its second best percentage in a match this season as a team (.422 against Miramar on Sept. 7).
Sophomore outside hitter Alyssa Vortouni, freshman outside hitter Gabriela Griego and sophomore middle blocker Kylie Miller each finished with nine kills.
Freshman outside hitter Lea Kruse had six kills. Vortouni added six digs and four aces and Kruse had five digs and two aces for the Lasers. Miller hit .563 on the night.
Sophomore middle blocker Jacqueline Wolf chipped in five kills and two blocks. She hit a team-best .571.
Freshman setter Truth Hafey ran Irvine Valley's offense with 32 assists. She also had four kills in four attempts, two blocks and two aces.
Sophomore libero Renata Bath contributed 12 digs and freshman outside hitter and defensive specialist Alaina Gendale had eight digs and three aces.
Griego ranks third in the conference so far at 3.25 kills per set.
Miller is first in the conference in hitting percentage (.375) with Griego second (.364) and Vortouni third (.355). Hafey leads the conference in assists at 11.0 per set.
Saddleback has a record of 1-5 so far.
The Gauchos defeated Rio Hondo in five sets at the Chaffey College quad last week.
Two of the team's defeats so far have come to ranked teams in MiraCosta and Grossmont.
The Gauchos fell at San Diego Mesa, 25-15, 25-19, 25-20, on Wednesday night.
Anna Ward had 16 kills and Julia Brown finished with five kills to lead Saddleback.
Kiana Camargo finished with 28 assists and eight digs.
Brown leads the conference in kills per set at 4.62 and in total kills with 97 and Camargo is ranked third in the OEC at 8.41 assists per set for Saddleback.
Irvine Valley plays at Golden West next Wednesday at 6 p.m. in a conference match and then plays host to Fullerton next Friday, Sept. 21 at 6 p.m.
