The Irvine Valley men's volleyball team had an abbreviated season due to COVID-19 and safety protocols, but the Lasers made the most of the time they had on the court together.
IVC captured the Orange Empire Conference title with a 26-24, 25-17, 22-15, 25-17 over Orange Coast in late May to end its season.
Irvine Valley finished with a record of 8-2 overall - all against OEC opponents.
OCC, being undefeated, was the favorite going into the Orange Empire Conference Tournament.
But after losing to the Pirates twice during the regular season, the Lasers were ready.
It was the first conference title for third-year Irvine Valley coach Ryan Windisch, who also beat Orange Coast in 2019 to move on to the state championship final. IVC fell to Long Beach City in the championship match that year.
"Everyone, in sports knows how tough it is to beat a good team three times," Windisch said. "Knowing this, we did not need to make any crazy adjustments. We just trusted our training for the year. I remember saying before the match that we need everyone to give an extra 10% in everything that they do tonight."
Windisch handed out team awards recently for his players that completed a surreal COVID season that incluced daily tests for players, coaches and staff and safety protocols.
The offensive player of the year for the Lasers was freshman outside hitter Colin Chillingworth. He averaeged 3.94 kills per set, which ranked second in the conference and also hit .304.
Freshman middle blocker Trevor Weinert was selected as the defensive player of the year.
He was second in the conference in blocks per set at 0.94 and also added 1.61 kills per set.
The freshman of the year was also the conference all-tournament player. Libero Adam Schulte earned the honors. He averaged 2.65 digs per set and had 82 digs on the season. In the conference tournament final against Orange Coast, Schulte came up with a season-high 18 digs.
And Windisch wanted to make sure to honore and thank his captains of the team - sophomore outside hitters Max Wise and JT Demure.
Both were key players in IVC's successful season.
