Irvine Valley's men's volleyball team looked like it might have an easy time early on Friday night in its Pacific Coast Athletic Conference match with Grossmont.
The Lasers rolled in the first set, but Grossmont won the next three in earning a 12-25, 25-15, 25-18, 25-21 victory at IVC.
Irvine Valley, Grossmont and Orange Coast were tied for first place in the conference standings heading into the match.
Now Grossmont and Orange Coast are the teams with just one loss in conference.
Irvine Valley's record fell to 11-4 overall and 9-2 in conference. The Lasers had their six-match winning streak halted. The last time they lost was at Grossmont in five sets on March 4.
Orange Coast plays Grossmont April 8 and then the Lasers host OCC on April 10 to end the regular season.
The top three teams from the conference make the CCCAA State Playoffs. It is the conference winner that gets an automatic berth to the State Championships.
Irvine Valley came out solidly in the first set Friday night.
The Lasers scored seven of the final nine points of the first set to win it.
Two kills by sophomore opposite Arek Halaj, a kill by freshman middle blocker Robert Ryley and a kill by sophomore outside hitter Josh Schmidt were part of the run.
Sophomore outside hitter Cole Murray ended the set with an overpass kill.
Grossmont raced out to a 13-7 lead in the second set. The Lasers got closer with a kill by Murray and then an ace by Murray. A kill by sophomore middle blocker Kevin Dell kept IVC in it at 14-10.
But the Griffins closed out the set on a 11-5 run.
A kill by Colin Mitchell took Grossmont to set point at 24-14 and two points later an IVC serving error ended the set.
Irvine Valley was up, 14-11, in the third set. It held a 15-13 lead, but Grossmont scored 12 of the next 15 points to win the set.
Mitchell had three solo blocks in a four-point stretch for Grossmont. A kill by Steven Rodriguez gave the Griffins a 24-18 lead and Grossmont took the set on an IVC hitting error.
In the fourth set, Grossmont held on to a narrow lead most of the way. IVC pulled within 15-14 after a kill by Murray and a Grossmont hitting error.
But then the Griffins scored three in a row to take command. A kill by Nathaniel Allen made it 18-14 for the Griffins.
IVC got back to within 18-16 on a block by Dell and Halaj and later was within 22-20 on an ace by Dell.
But a kill by Grossmont's Andrew Freiha stopped any IVC momentum. A kill by Rodriguez and then a winner on a jump serve by Freiha closed out the match.
Irvine Valley received 11 kills each from Murray, Halaj and Ryley.
Halaj also had 20 assists and eight digs.
Sophomore libero Billy Crow finished with 11 digs and freshman setter Jake Adams had 22 assists and six digs.
Irvine Valley has next Wednesday off and hosts San Diego Mesa next Friday at home at 6 p.m.
