It wasn't easy early on for the Irvine Valley men's volleyball team against Grossmont on Friday night in a conference match at home.
The Lasers trailed by as many as five points in the first set, before rallying for a win and then rolling in the next two sets for its seventh, three-set sweep of the year.
Irvine Valley, ranked No. 6 in the state, improved its record to 9-3 overall and 3-1 in conference with the 28-26, 25-21, 25-15 victory.
Grossmont's record went to 2-10 overall.
Irvine Valley fell behind, 15-10, in the opening set, but scored six of the next seven points and tied things at 16 on two straight Griffin hitting errors.
Grossmont responded and took a 18-16 advantage, but Irvine Valley scored four straight points led by a kill by freshman opposite Travis Kaufman, an overpass kill by freshman setter Bryce Nohava and a back row attack call on the Griffins.
Grossmont still battled and the set was later tied at 23, 24, 25 and 26.
But after the Grifins hit out on a serve, Kaufman ended the set with a crosscourt kill.
Irvine Valley went on from there.
The Lasers led, 20-13, in the second set before freshman outside hitter Tucker McClain had a kill and then Nohava tooled the block to give IVC the 25-21 victory.
IVC jumped out to a 19-9 lead in the third set and was up by as many as 11 at 23-12 on an ace by freshman outside hitter Jack McGrew.
The Lasers reached match point (24-13) on a smart, lefty kill by freshman middle blocker Joshua Damianopoulos and won the match three points later on a serve into the net by the Griffins.
McGrew led the way with 11 kills, four digs and two blocks, Kaufman finished with nine kills and four aces and McClain added four kills and five digs.
Nohava ran the offense with 24 assists and chipped in four digs. Sophomore defensive specialist Domenic Marquez contributed five digs for the Lasers.
Irvine Valley now has one of its biggest matches of the season next Wednesday when it hosts No. 3 Golden West at 6 p.m.
