The Irvine Valley women's volleyball team earned its ninth sweep of the season and third in a row with a 25-19, 25-21, 27-25 victory over Riverside in an Orange Empire Conference match at home on Wednesday night.
But not one of the wins over the three sets came easy.
Irvine Valley closed out the first two sets strong and then held on in third set for the win, which was its sixth straight.
The Lasers, ranked 11th in the state and sixth in Southern California, improved their record to 12-4 overall and 9-1 in conference. IVC remained in first place by itself in the conference standings. The Lasers are a match ahead of Cypress.
Riverside, which moved up to 20th in the state this week, had its four-match win streak halted. Riverside's record fell to 12-6 overall and 5-5 in conference. Riverside is fifth in conference.
Irvine Valley was paced by sophomore outside hitters Kayla Scheevel and Hannah Matt, who each had 11 kills and 12 digs. Scheevel added three aces.
Freshman middle blocker Hailey Riden finished with eight kills, hit .538 and had three blocks, freshman middle blocker Kayla Shields chipped in six kills, sophomore libero Emily Reinking finished with 23 digs, freshman defensive specialist Taylor Askins had seven digs and sophomore setter Jenna Olbright ended with seven kills, five blocks, four digs and 38 assists.
Irvine Valley scored seven of the final 10 points, including the last three in a row, to win the first set. Scheevel had a kill to make it 23-19, freshman right side Olivia Aguilar had a kill get IVC to set point and Scheevel served an ace to end the set.
The second set included more late heroics for the Lasers. Riverside jumped out to an 11-5 lead on a kill by Marissa Vialpando and the Tigers later led, 18-13, after an IVC hitting error.
But Irvine Valley out-scored Riverside, 12-3, from there to win the set. Scheevel had four kills and one ace during the run. Tied at 21-21, IVC scored the final four points of the set. Matt closed it out with a kill.
The third set was back and forth throughout. It was tied 11 times.
Irvine Valley made its move up, 18-17. The Lasers put together a 5-1 run that included kills by Matt, Shields, Riden and Olbright and an ace by Cosette Hawyrliak.
Riden's kill put Irvine Valley ahead, 23-18. But Riverside didn't go away.
The Tigers climbed back with five points in a row. A block by Melissa Moe, ace by Moe, IVC error and then a kill by Nyomi Ward pulled Riverside even with the Lasers at 23-23.
IVC had match points at 24-23 and 25-24, but Riverside had an answer each time. A kill by Ward made it 25-25.
Irvine Valley again set up match point, getting a kill by Matt to make it 26-25. And Matt and Shields finished off the win with a combo block on Lauren Wells.
Irvine Valley plays again on Friday, traveling to Fullerton for a 6 p.m. contest. Fullerton handed IVC its lone loss in conference – in four sets – on Oct. 14 at Irvine Valley.
