No. 1 women's volleyball team sweeps its 10th opponent of year

Courtesy of On My Game Photography
Courtesy of On My Game Photography

Irvine Valley's women's volleyball team swept its 10th opponent of the season and fifth straight in Orange Empire Conference action, beating Golden West, 25-17, 25-20, 25-18, on the road on Friday night.

Irvine Valley, the top-ranked team in the state, improved its record to 13-0 overall and 6-0 in conference. Unranked Golden West went to 8-4 overall and 2-4 in conference.

IVC has dropped just three of 42 sets so far this year. And Irvine Valley has won the last 17 straight sets.

The Lasers hit .416 in the match, which was the squad's third highest hitting percentage in a contest so far this year.

Sophomore middle blocker Kristin Austin continued her stellar play with 12 kills and no errors in 19 attempts. She hit .632 on the night and also contributed three block assists.

Sophomore outside hitter Lea Kruse led the IVC team in kills with 15 and hit .462. She added 12 digs on the night.

Sophomore outside hitter Alaina Gendale had 10 kills and eight digs, sophomore libero Anna Unke added 10 digs, freshman defensive specialist Lexie Pereira had seven digs and sophomore setter Truth Hafey contributed 45 assists, five digs and two block assists for IVC.

Irvine Valley has two home matches this week to end the first round of conference play. The Lasers host Cypress on Wednesday at 6 p.m. and then play host to Saddleback on Friday at 6 p.m.