Irvine Valley's women's volleyball team finished off an impressive week and the first round of Orange Empire Conference play with a four-set win over Orange Coast on Friday at home.
The Lasers, ranked No. 17 in the state, defeated the Pirates, 25-7, 25-11, 18-25, 25-9, to improve their record to 9-4 overall and 6-1 in conference.
Orange Coast's record slipped to 10-6 overall and 2-5 in conference.
Irvine Valley, which also swept previously unbeaten in conference Cypress on the road this week, stayed in at least a tie for first place in conference with Friday night's victory.
IVC went into the match in a three-way tie for first with Cypress and Fullerton.
Irvine Valley has won the conference title the last two years.
"I am extremely pleased," IVC coach Tom Pestolesi said. "The kids have done a great job of working and becoming a team. We had a lot of new pieces this year and had to figure things out. Our chemistry is good and the vibe is showing in the way we are playing."
Irvine Valley won the first two sets easily on Friday, but Orange Coast rallied to take the third.
The Pirates closed the third set by winning the final four points. Measha Lindstrand had a block, Danyelle Brown recorded two kills and then an IVC hitting error ended the set.
Irvine Valley got back on track in the fourth set. The Lasers went on a 9-3 run early on. Sophomore outside hitter Kayla Scheevel had three kills during the run. A kill by freshman middle blocker Hailey Riden gave IVC an 11-5 lead.
Ahead, 12-8, IVC closed out the set and the match with another big run. IVC scored 13 of the final 14 points. Twelve of those came in a row and 11 were with sophomore libero Emily Reinking serving.
She had three aces during the streak, including one to put IVC ahead, 23-8. A hitting error by the Pirates made it match point. And two points later, freshman middle blocker Brittany Tuliau gave IVC the win with a kill.
Five Laser players had at least five kills, led by Scheevel with 13. Freshman middle blocker Kayla Shields added 11 kills and hit .667, freshman right side Olivia Aguilar had nine kills, sophomore outside hitter Hannah Matt finished with seven kills and sophomore setter Jenna Olbright had five kills.
"Another reason we are doing well is that we have balance now," Pestolesi said. "We are getting scoring from five positions. A lot of that is because of Jenna. She is playing really well and it is fun to see."
Reinking ended with six aces as IVC had 12 aces as a team on the night. Freshman defensive specialist Cozette Hawyrliak added four aces. Reinking also had a team-high 15 digs. Scheevel finished with 10 digs, Aguilar had three blocks and Olbright also contributed nine digs, three blocks and 40 assists.
Irvine Valley starts the second round of conference play next Wednesday, hosting Santa Ana at 6 p.m.
