Irvine Valley's men's volleyball team has some work to do in the Pacific Coast Athletic Conference.
The Lasers dropped their second straight conference match, falling to Orange Coast, 25-22, 25-23, 25-18, at home Friday night in the program's annual Dig Pink Event.
Money that was raised through admissions and an auction will go to the Side-Out Foundation for cancer research and awareness. The Irvine Valley women's volleyball team ran the event.
Irvine Valley and Orange Coast were tied for first place in the conference, along with Grossmont, heading into the contest.
Orange Coast and Grossmont are now tied at 4-1. Irvine Valley lost its second straight in conference and has a record of 7-5 overall and 3-2 in conference.
"We didn't play bad," IVC coach Ki Yi said. "Orange Coast is a good team. I thought we did a lot of good things. There were things that we controlled. The enthusiasm was there and the effort was there, but I think some nervousness, lack of confidence at key times and bad serving, especially when we got into the 20's (with points), got the better of us."
IVC was right with OCC in the first set and led late in the second set.
The first set was tied 11 times, including at 20-20. But then the Pirates scored five of the final seven points to take the set.
Irvine Valley served out to give Orange Coast a 21-20 lead and then Ty Hutchins and Scott Metrakos came up with a block to make it 22-20. IVC got a point back with a kill by freshman middle blocker Kevin Vaz.
And Irvine Valley stayed alive after a kill by freshman outside hitter Cole Murray to get the Lasers within 23-22.
But a kill by Hutchins and then a call for a back row attack on Irvine Valley ended the set.
Irvine Valley took a 23-22 lead in the second set after Orange Coast was called for a net violation. But a serving error by the Lasers knotted the score at 23-23 and then the Pirates scored two more points in a row – getting a block for a point by Metrakos and then a kill by Hutchins.
Irvine Valley was in the third set early on, but it quickly got away from the Lasers. IVC tied the set at 8-8 on a block by freshman opposite Davis Cannon and freshman middle blocker Marcus Dillon.
And a kill by Murray made the score 9-9.
But then Orange Coat went on a 10-2 run that put them in control. A tip winner by Hutchins, an ace by Jordan Bailey and then an IVC hitting effort put the Pirates ahead, 19-11.
IVC rallied to within 22-17 late after an Orange Coast net. But the Pirates won three of the final four points. A net call on IVC ended the match.
Orange Coast was led by Hutchins with 11 kills, Jim Webb with nine kills and Nick Amado with seven kills. Brandon Dau finished with four blocks and Brendan Duff had 29 assists.
Irvine Valley got 11 kills from freshman outside hitter AJ Hammer, eight kills each from Cannon and Murray, three kills and five blocks from Dillon, seven digs from freshman libero Ryan Spector and 29 assists from freshman setter John Lasezky.
Irvine Valley plays again next Wednesday night, hosting San Diego City at 6 p.m.
