The Irvine Valley men's volleyball team showed some early-season mettle on Wednesday at home.
Playing in a 1 p.m. start and having already won its first two matches of the season, the Lasers had to bear down to beat Santa Barbara City in a match-up between two of the top 10 teams in the state.
Irvine Valley came away with a 25-18, 26-24, 19-25, 30-28 win to improve its record to 3-0 overall.
Santa Barbara's record went to 1-2.
Irvine Valley had its easiest part of the day in the first set, taking a 21-14 lead and then closing things out with a kill by freshman outside hitter Caleb Manea.
The second set was a different story.
Irvine Valley trailed, 16-11, before rallying late. The score was tied at 17, 18 and 19 before the Lasers scored two points in a row.
The Vaqueros answered with two straight points to tie it up at 21-21.
And Santa Barbara City took leads at 23-22 and then, 24-23, on a kill by Tom Altankhuyag.
But the Lasers responded with a kill by freshman outside hitter Jack McGrew to even the set at 24-24.
Irvine Valley took that momentum to finish the set.
Freshman outside hitter Travis Kaufman had a kill to bring IVC within a point and freshman outside hitter Lucas Vo gave the Lasers the set win on an ace that hit off of the top of the net and fell in.
Santa Barbara City won the third set, 25-19, and winning the frame with a kill by Mykolas Petraitis.
The fourth set was back and forth throughout.
It was tied at 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27 and 28 before Irvine Valley scored the final two points.
Santa Barbara City served out and then Irvine Valley won the set and match on a smart play by freshman middle blocker Joshua Damianopoulos, who set the ball over in a surprise on one.
Even more stats details for IVC on Friday.
Irvine Valley plays again Friday night hitting the road in another top 10 state contest at Moorpark at 6 p.m.
