When momentum started changing for the Irvine Valley's women's volleyball team in its opening match of the CCCAA State Championships on Saturday, the Lasers looked to their top player to get the squad back on track.
Sophomore All-American middle blocker Annie Mitchem, the AVCA 2-Year Colleges National Player of the Year, put on a clinic with 19 kills in just 23 attempts as the Lasers stayed undefeated at 25-0 with a four-set win over Feather River at Cabrillo College in Aptos.
The Lasers came out on top, 25-9, 23-25, 25-20, 25-16.
Irvine Valley jumped out to an easy 16-point rout in the opening set, but Feather River roared back to tie the match at one set a piece.
Stephanie Ovitz scored four kills in the set, rifling game point on a 3-0 Golden Eagles run after IVC led, 23-22.
Feather River seemed to take control in the third set, jumping ahead 11-5, 14-9 and 16-12.
Irvine Valley, however, put together a 13-4 spurt spearheaded by Mitchem to clinch the set at 25-20.
The Orange Empire Conference MVP and all-state talent scored two kills and was part of three blocks (two solos) that turned a 20-20 tie into an Irvine Valley 2-1 sets lead.
In the final set, the Lasers went ahead 7-2 on back-to-back aces by freshman defensive specialist Emily Reinking. Irvine Valley never relinquished the advantage and used another ace, this time by sophomore outside hitter Marisa Doran to clinch the victory.
Mitchem shattered a state tournament record for highest kill percentage at .826.
The previous high for as many as 20 attempts was turned in by San Joaquin Delta's Morgan Loftis (.676) who had 23 kills in 34 attempts in a 2002 match. Mitchem added six blocks.
"We knew what kind of player Mitchem was, so we figured our best strategy was to shut down everyone else and let her have her points," said Feather River head coach Sarah Ritchie, whose team returned to the state tourney after last making it in 2008.
"The strategy worked, but we didn't execute enough. We had the jitters in the first set. And we couldn't pass in the first set or the fourth set. When we did, we won the second and we played well most of the third."
Irvine Valley head coach Tom Pestolesi also talked about how passing and serve receive dictated the flow of the match.
"Everything was about first contact," he said. "We did it a little better in the first and fourth, and they did that better in the middle sets. We relied on Annie when we needed her the most. When we played Canyons in the regionals we fell behind 17-11 in one set and then went on a 12-0 run and suddenly we won that set. That same thing happened in the third set run for us. We are capable of those type of rallies."
For Irvine Valley, freshman opposite Juju Cannon scored nine kills while Doran (six kills) served four of the team's 11 aces.
Sophomore setter Hailey Jones added 34 assists and 10 digs.
Feather River was paced by Ovitz, who had a great hitting match herself with 11 kills in 19 attempts (.474) plus three blocks. All-American libero Nina Holmes made 13 digs and Alanna Watt added five kills, three aces and two blocks.
Feather River will play Grossmont at 10 a.m. Sunday in an elimination match. IVC plays Cabrillo at 7 p.m. Saturday in the winner's bracket final.
