Irvine Valley women's indoor and beach vollyeball standout Emily Guenter has signed with NCAA Division I University of North Florida.
Guenter, from Stuttgart, Germany, has been a star player for Irvine Valley both indoors and on the sand.
And Guenter helped Irvine Valley to a California Community College Athletic Association State Beach Championship title this past spring on the Laser beach courts.
Irvine Valley, the first California Community College Athletic Association State Champion in 2015, came back to defeat Cabrillo to win its pool and then out-lasted Feather River in a final match that went down to the wire to claim the State Championship on the Laser beach courts at IVC.
IVC defeated Cabrillo, 3-2, in the semis and then Feather River, 3-2, in the final to take the title.
Guenter and partner Jaclyn Sanchez (signed with DI Nevada for indoor) went on a nice run in the state pairs individual event at IVC.
The duo fought throughout Friday, May 13 to move on and reach the round of 16.
In the round of 16, Sanchez and Guenter defeated the Cabrillo team of Shirley Morrison and Carly Ditz, 21-13, 23-21.
But, Sanchez and Guenter fell in the quarterfinals to the Sierra team of Natalie Taggart and Corinne Williams, 21-19, 25-23, in a back and fourth contest.
"I am so proud of those two," Irvine Valley coach Tom Pestolesi said of Guenter and Sanchez. "They gave it all they had."
As an outside hitter in the fall of 2021, Guenter helped Irvine Valley to a record of 16-6 overall and 12-4 for a second place finish in conference. The Lasers made the So. Cal. Regional playoffs.
Guenter started all 22 matches on the year and played 72 sets. She averaged 1.83 kills and 2.60 digs on the season.
She is headed to a North Florida squad that finished with a 25-14 record, which set the mark for most program wins in a single season.
The Ospreys reached their conference championship semifinals and it was the first time since 2016 that North Florida had at least three indviduals notch 25 wins in the same year.
