Irvine Valley's men's volleyball team has played three of the best teams from the Western State Conference tough so far.
But the Lasers have ended up with losses in two of the matches.
Irvine Valley's record slipped to 1-2 overall with a 25-22, 16-25, 25-20, 23-25, 15-11 defeat at
Santa Barbara City on Wednesday night.
Sophomore outside hitter Cole Murray led the Lasers with 22 kills.
Shaft Wesley had 13 kills and 6-9 middle blocker Jeremy Berch had 12 kills and six blocks as SBCC outlasted Irvine Valley.
Santa Barbara City won its fourth match in a row to improve its record to 4-1 on the year.
The Vaqueros used a 6-2 run in the fifth set to take an 8-6 lead on a kill by Wesley. Irvine Valley got within two at 11-9 on a putaway by sophomore Arek Halaj but SBCC stretched the lead to 13-10 on a solo block and kill by Sean Reynaert, a 6-5 opposite from Belgium.
The lead grew to 14-10 on a Laser hitting error, then Murray put down a kill, prompting a timeout by the Vaqueros. Taylor McCluskey capped the victory for Santa Barbara City with a kill through the block.
There were 10 ties and eight lead changes in the opening set before the Vaqueros closed on a 6-2 run to win 25-22.
Irvine Valley broke open a tight second set with an 8-0 run that produced a 21-14 advantage.
The Vaqueros dominated the third set with leads of 10-5, 16-10 and 21-14.
Irvine Valley is home on Friday, hosting Los Angeles Pierce at 6 p.m.
