Irvine Valley's women's volleyball team clinched a share of the Orange Empire Conference title last week with a win over Santiago Canyon.
The Lasers, who are undefeated and the top-ranked team in the state, have a chance to win the title outright if they can beat Riverside in an Orange Empire Conference match on Wednesday night at home at 6 p.m.
Wednesday is also sophomore night for Irvine Valley. Sophomores Alyssa Vortouni, Kylie Miller, Jacqueline Wolfe, Jade Parham and Renata Bath will be honored before the start of the match.
IVC, which is also riding a 43-match win streak dating back to the start of the 2017 campaign, has a conference mark of 12-0 and leads Orange Coast and Cypress by three matches each with three contests left in the regular season.
The Lasers swept at Santiago Canyon, 25-8, 25-6, 25-7, at home last Wednesday. It was the team's 14th sweep of the season. Irvine Valley has given up just three sets to opponents all year.
Last Wednesday, Irvine Valley hit .513 as a team with just two errors on the night.
Freshman outside hitter Lea Kruse ended with 13 kills and 11 digs, sophomore outside hitter Alyssa Vortouni had nine kills, hit .529 and added three block assists and freshman middle blocker Kristin Austin chipped in eight kills, hit .800 and had five block assists.
Sophomore specialist Jade Parham contributed six digs and four aces, freshman defensive specialist Anna Unke had six digs, sophomore libero Renata Bath finished with 12 digs and freshman setter Truth Hafey ended with 37 assists, five digs and three aces.
Vortouni ranks first in hitting percentage in the conference at .381 and fourth in kills per set 3.12. Kruse is fourth in hitting percentage at .295 and fifth in kills per set at 3.09.
Hafey is first in the OEC in assists per set at 11.12 and ranks second in the state.
IVC ranks first in the state in kills per set (13.39) and is second in the state in team hitting percentage at .339, trailing only Bakersfield (.341).
Irvine Valley is on the road Friday at OCC.
Riverside has a record of 14-8 overall and is fourth in the Orange Empire Conference with a mark of 7-5. The Tigers are in a battle with Fullerton, which sits just a half match behind in fifth.
Riverside takes on Fullerton at home on Friday.
RCC defeated Saddleback, 17-25, 22-25, 25-21, 25-20, 15-12, last Friday at Saddleback.
Vashti Elias-Romero had 15 kills and 14 digs to lead the way for the Tigers. Marcella Rodriguez and Kiara Oregon each finished with nine kills, Telanni Childs had eight kills, Sadie Arganda had 19 digs, Natalie Escher came up with 15 digs and Taylor Gardener ran the offense with 38 assists.
Escher ranks second in the conference at 4.47 digs per set. Kayla McKinnon ranks No. 1 in the OEC in blocks per set at 1.00.
Elias-Romero averages 2.87 kills and 3.34 digs per set, Julia Balancier averages 2.59 kills and 2.50 digs per set and Rodriguez averages 2.46 kills and 2.29 digs per set. Gardner is averaging 5.99 assists per set.
RCC is hitting .199 as a team on the year.
Riverside lost to Irvine Valley in four sets the first time the two teams met in Riverside on Oct. 5. The Tigers were the first team to take a set off the Lasers this season.
