Irvine Valley bounced back from its first loss in Orange Empire Conference play with a dominant victory on Dig Pink Night at IVC Friday night.
Irvine Valley defeated Saddleback, 25-20, 25-12, 25-15, at Irvine Valley.
All money raised during the event will be donated to the Side-Out Foundation in Support of Breast Cancer Awareness.
Irvine Valley, ranked No. 16 in the state, suffered a disappointing loss in four sets to Fullerton on Wednesday at home.
But the Lasers got back to their winning ways Friday.
Several players contributed, including freshman right side player Olivia Aguilar, who had her second strong match in a row. After finishing with 14 kills against Fullerton, she had 12 kills and hit .500 in helping lead the Lasers to the win over Saddleback.
Sophomore outside hitter Hannah Matt contributed 10 kills and two blocks, freshman middle blocker Kayla Shields added nine kills and two blocks, sophomore outside hitter Kayla Scheevel ended with six kills and freshman middle blocker Hailey Riden had five kills.
As a team, Irvine Valley hit .379 in the match.
Running the offense was sophomore setter Jenna Olbright, who finished with 42 assists.
Saddleback was paced by Kaylee Douglass with nine kills and Chasticy Gonzales with nine digs.
Saddleback was within, 22-20, in the first set, but Irvine Valley won the final three points.
Aguilar put Irvine Valley ahead, 23-20, with a kill and two points later IVC won the set when Saddleback couldn't get the ball over on three.
IVC jumped out to an early lead and never looked back in the both the second and third sets.
A kill by Shields gave Irvine Valley a 21-8 advantage in the second set. A kill by Matt made it 23-9 and later a kill by Riden put IVC up, 24-12. The Lasers won the set on a Saddleback hitting error.
Freshman middle blocker Brittany Tuliau closed out the third set and the match with a kill for Irvine Valley.
The Lasers improved their record to 7-4 overall and 4-1 in conference. Saddleback's record fell to 4-9 overall and 1-4 in conference, but the Gauchos are making strides under first-year coach and former Irvine Valley men's volleyball player Brian Hughes.
Saddleback won its first three matches of the season, beat Santa Ana in conference and took Orange Coast to five sets in a close defeat.
Irvine Valley moves on to play at first-place Cypress next Wednesday at 6 p.m. The Lasers will host Orange Coast next Friday at 6 p.m.
