Irvine Valley's men's volleyball team made it two in a row to start Pacific Coast Athletic Conference play.
After rallying to defeat Palomar on the road on Wednesday in five sets, the Lasers played some of the their best volleyball of the season in beating Grossmont, 25-21, 25-12, 31-33, 25-18, Friday night at home.
It was Irvine Valley's fifth win in its last six matches. The victory improved the Lasers' record to 6-3 overall and 2-0 in conference.
Grossmont slipped to 3-4 overall and 0-1 in conference.
"It is nice to win back-to-back matches to start conference," IVC coach Ki Yi said. "And we did it as we are still figuring out our lineups. We are getting closer with that I think.
"We are showing glimpses of really good volleyball and starting to get rid of those times when we lack confidence. We still have a lot of work to do, but I think the continuity with this group is finally starting to kick in."
Irvine Valley got another solid night from freshman opposite Davis Cannon. Cannon finished with 18 kills, five digs and six blocks. He also hit .571 on the night.
Irvine Valley's middle blockers also shined.
Freshman Marcus Dillon added 11 kills, hit .667 and added six blocks and freshman Kevin Vaz contributed seven kills and five blocks.
Sophomore defensive specialist Christian Directo and freshman outside hitter AJ Hammer each added five digs. Hammer also had five kills. And freshman setter John Lasezky ran the offense with 40 assists.
Irvine Valley got out to a big lead in the first set and then held on as Grossmont made a run at the end of the set.
In set two, IVC once again started strong. The Lasers took a 13-3 lead and then continued to roll.
Irvine Valley took a 22-7 lead on a block by freshman middle blocker Matt Mittry. Vaz later closed out the set with a kill.
The third set was the closest and the longest. Grossmont had set points at 24-22 and 24-23 before IVC tied it at 24-24 on a hitting error by the Griffins.
Each team had four set points the rest of the way before Grossmont finally ended the marathon. A block by Adrian Ventura set up set point and then Grossmont won the set when IVC was called for reaching over the net.
Irvine Valley broke away in the fourth set, however, to earn the victory.
Up, 10-8, the Lasers went on a 10-3 run. Freshman outside hitter Josh Schmidt ended the run with a kill.
Grossmont fought back to within 22-27, but it wasn't enough.
A kill by Cannon made it 23-17 and after a Grossmont hitting error, Vaz ended the night with a kill.
Irvine Valley has a bye in conference action next Wednesday and will host San Diego Mesa next Friday at 6 p.m.
