Irvine Valley's women's volleyball team got its Orange Empire Conference campaign off to a tremendous start Friday night at Golden West.
The Lasers, who are the defending conference champions and ranked No. 2 in the state and No. 1 in Southern California, swept No. 9 Golden West, 25-19, 25-23, 25-21.
It was Irvine Valley's seventh straight sweep since opening the year with a five-set win over NAIA nationally ranked Concordia.
Irvine Valley improved its record to 8-0 with the win over Golden West. The Rustlers fell to 8-2.
Leading the way was sophomore All-American middle blocker Annie Mitchem, who had 18 kills, four blocks and nine digs. She had those 18 kills in 25 attempts with just two errors for a .640 hitting percentage.
All-conference sophomore outside hitter Marisa Doran added 11 kills and eight digs in the sweep.
Freshman middle blocker Hannah Matt and freshman opposite Juju Cannon each contributed seven kills and all-region sophomore setter Hailey Jones had 42 assists and eight digs.
Jones helped IVC hit an impressive .354 as a team on the night.
Irvine Valley plays again next Wednesday at home against Riverside at 6 p.m. The Lasers then hosts Santa Ana on Friday at 6 p.m.
