Irvine Valley's women's volleyball team couldn't have opened the 2013 season in much better fashion Friday night at home.
The Lasers were dominant in a 25-12, 25-5, 25-13 non-conference win over Ventura.
Irvine Valley trailed just twice in the match and that was at 4-3 in the first set and 1-0 in the third set.
The Lasers hit an efficient .456 as a team and got standout performances from a few freshmen making their IVC debuts, especially middle blocker Annie Mitchem, outside hitter Kobi Pekich and setter Hailey Jones.
Mitchem and Pekich each finished with six kills and Jones had 26 assists. Mitchem and Pekich each also had six kills with no errors in just seven attempts.
"I was really proud of what all of the kids did out there tonight," Coach Tom Pestolesi said. "I thought we did a good job of what we always stress, which is to take care of our side of the net. I thought Hailey was really smooth out there. She just knows what to do. She ran stuff down and still put up hittable balls. Annie was impressive. We just need to give her even more opportunities. And I thought Kobi was super steady for us, especially early on. She got us going."
Freshman Marisa Doran added four kills and four aces and freshman Shaelyn Perez had three kills and five digs.
Returning all-Orange Empire Conference sophomore Becky Moodie did her thing with nine digs from the libero position and sophomore middle blocker Haley Whyte contributed five kills.
Irvine Valley closed out the first set by winning 17 of the final 25 points, scored the first 11 points of the second set to take control and used a 5-1 run in the third set to close out the match.
"The vibe is great right now and we hope that continues," Pestolesi said.
Irvine Valley will play again next Friday when it travels to Santa Barbara City for another non-conference match. Santa Barbara City won its conference last season.
