After a slow start, the Irvine Valley women's volleyball team rolled in one of its biggest tests so far this season.
The Lasers, ranked No. 2 in the state and No. 1 in Southern California swept Santa Barbara City, 28-26, 25-13, 25-11, on Wednesday night at Santa Barbara's Sports Pavilion.
Santa Barbara City was ranked No. 9 in the latest state poll.
Irvine Valley stayed unbeaten and improved its record to 6-0, while Santa Barbara City fell to 4-2.
It was Irvine Valley's fifth straight sweep of an opponent.
IVC, which knocked Santa Barbara City out of last year's playoffs in the So. Cal. Regional Finals, got solid night's from its four sophomores in the victory.
Middle blocker Annie Mitchem led Irvine Valley with 18 kills, 14 digs and a .517 hitting percentage. Outside hitter Marisa Doran added 13 kills, seven digs and hit .562. Outside hitter Kobi Pekich had seven kills and 13 digs. And setter Hailey Jones finished with seven digs and 40 assists.
Jones helped Irvine Valley hit .337 as a team overall.
Freshmen Emily Reinking and Kayla Scheevel contributed nine and four digs, respectively.
The first set was a back-and-forth affair with nine lead changes and 15 ties. The Vaqueros took a 16-12 advantage on a block by Taylor Badois. The Lasers responded with a 5-0 run to regain the upper hand.
An ace serve by Katelynn Womack gave the Vaqueros set point at 25-24 but Mitchem pounded a kill to even the score. Irvine Valley had three set points before Doran ended it with a spike off a back row player.
"We really battled in the first set, then they put Annie in the front row and it was a different game," Santa Barbara City coach Ed Gover. "We can't match up with a girl that good. It put us behind to start the second and third sets."
IVC jumped ahead, 12-5, in the second set and, 6-0, in the third set.
"We started to put a little pressure on them and really made them earn every point," IVC coach Tom Pestolesi said. "I thought our defense after that first set was very good. We came up with a lot of digs and our passing got better and better throughout the match. I thought Marisa (Doran) was really good tonight and Annie just did her thing."
Irvine Valley gets a break before playing again. The Lasers will take on NAIA school Vanguard on Tuesday, Sept. 30 at home at 6 p.m.
