Irvine Valley's men's volleyball team played its best match of the 2014 season at the perfect time.
The Lasers beat Long Beach City in a marathon five-set match Friday in the quarterfinals of the California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) State Championships at Long Beach.
The 25-19, 19-25, 23-25, 25-20, 15-12 victory moved Irvine Valley on to the State Championships semifinals at Santiago Canyon College.
The Lasers, who finished third in the Pacific Coast Athletic Conference, were scheduled to take on rival Orange Coast, which won the PCAC, in the semifinals on Wednesday night.
The win over Long Beach City improved Irvine Valley's record to 13-7 overall.
Long Beach City, which was second in the Western State Conference, ended the year at 15-5.
Long Beach City swept Irvine Valley earlier this season, but it was a different match on Friday night.
The contest saw 34 tie scores and 14 lead changes and IVC held the lead at the end.
With the match tied in sets 2-2, the Vikings took a 6-3 lead in the fifth set and appeared to have momentum on their side.
But Irvine Valley battled back and took its first lead of the fifth set at 10-9 after a LBCC error.
Long Beach City tied the score at 10-10 thanks to an IVC error, but back-to-back errors by LBCC gave the Lasers a two-point advantage that they never gave up.
Reylea Speller's kill gave the Vikings life down 14-12, but freshman middle blocker Kevin Vaz' kill sealed the set and match victory for Irvine Valley.
The Lasers got contributions from all around.
Freshman opposite Davis Cannon led Irvine Valley with 24 kills and hit .357 on the night. He also had seven digs, four aces and three blocks in his best all-around effort of the season.
Freshman outside hitter Cole Murray had quite a night. He finished with 14 kills and a 1.000 hitting percentage.
Freshman outside hitter AJ Hammer added 10 kills and Vaz contributed seven kills and six blocks.
Freshman libero Ryan Spector had nine digs, freshman setter Steven Duhoux had 35 assists and freshman setter John Lasezky ended with 15 assists.
