Irvine Valley's women's volleyball team dropped its first set in nearly two months, but the Lasers still earned another victory.
Irvine Valley, ranked No. 1 in the state fell behind No. 7 Fullerton early, but came back to beat the Hornets, 22-25, 25-17, 25-16, 25-13, on Friday night at Fullerton.
After knocking off NAIA nationally-ranked Concordia in five sets in its opening match of the season on Aug. 27, Irvine Valley had reeled off 12 straight three-set wins.
"Fullerton played well and we were a little erratic to start," IVC coach Tom Pestolesi said. "We lost the first set and were down, 8-4, in the second set. We then finally got going.
"But I think overall this was good for us. It is not going to be easy the rest of the way."
Irvine Valley, which is trying to defend its Orange Empire Conference title and get back to the State Championships where it finished third last year, improved its record to 14-0 overall and 7-0 in conference.
The Lasers open the second round of conference play on Wednesday at home against No. 9 Golden West.
Irvine Valley got a career night from sophomore outside hitter Kobi Pekich in the win over Fullerton.
Pekich led the team in kills with 16 and digs with 14.
She also hit a remarkable .652, totaling her 16 kills in 23 attempts with just one error.
Sophomore middle blocker Annie Mitchem added 15 kills, 12 digs, six blocks, one ace and two assists in the win.
Sophomore outside hitter Marisa Doran was the third Laser player with double-digit kills, recording 10 kills to go along with seven digs and a team-high four aces.
Freshman opposite Juju Cannon had nine kills, freshman libero Kayla Scheevel finished with seven digs and sophomore setter Hailey Jones contributed 44 assists and 10 digs.
Despite the slow start in the opening set, Irvine Valley still hit .316 as a team on the night.
IVC now preps for its showdown with Golden West on Wednesday. It will be the Lasers' annual Dig Pink match to support breast cancer awareness. Doors open at 5 p.m. with the match starting at 6 p.m.
The first 200 fans will receive a pink Asics T-shirt. Raffles will also be held and prizes will be given away.
