Irvine Valley's women's volleyball team battled back against Cypress, but it wasn't enough in a dramatic Orange Empire Conference match on Friday at IVC.
Cypress won the first two sets, Irvine Valley clawed for the next two before the Chargers out-lasted the Lasers in the fifth set to stay unbeaten in conference.
Cypress, ranked eighth in the state, defeated No. 22 Irvine Valley, 25-18, 25-23, 18-25, 16-25, 15-12.
The Chargers improved their record to 10-1 overall and 3-0 in conference, while Irvine Valley slipped to 4-2 overall and 2-1 in conference play.
Irvine Valley got 21 kills, 11 digs and five blocks from sophomore opposite Juju Cannon, 14 kills and 21 digs from freshman outside hitter Taira Ka'awaloa, 13 digs from sophomore outside hitter Lucee Fitzgerald and 48 assists from sophomore setter Alissa Blevins.
Cypress was led by Samantha Madrid, who finished with 14 kills and hit .478 for the night. Cypress hit .153 as a team.
Paige Buchanan added 23 digs and Samantha Martinez had 44 assists and 12 digs.
IVC got another strong match from Cannon, who led the team in kills, Ka'awaloa, who was all over the court, and Fitzgerald, who was switched to the libero position midway through the contest.
Cypress won the first set after a big scoring run with its serving.
The second set might have been the difference in the match. IVC was up, 18-13, and then, 20-16, after a serving error by Cypress.
But the Chargers scored five of the next six points and tied it at 21-21 on a net violation by the Lasers.
Irvine Valley took a 23-22 lead on a kill by sophomore middle blocker Hailey Riden, but IVC didn't score another point in the set.
Sina Amasio came up with a block for a point to tie it at 23-23 and an IVC hitting error gave Cypress set point at 24-23.
An ace by the Chargers ended the set.
Irvine Valley rallied in the third set. The Lasers held a slim lead throughout the set. A kill by Ka'awaloa gave Irvine Valley an 18-14 advantage. And a combo block for a point by Riden and Cannon gave Irvine Valley a 20-16 lead.
A kill and then a block by Cannon put IVC in front, 23-17.
Two points later, IVC won the set when Cypress hit out.
Irvine Valley played its best in the fourth set. The Lasers went up, 19-13, and then later took a 20-14 lead on a kill by Cannon.
Another kill by Cannon made it 21-15.
The Lasers got to set point at 24-16 on a kill by freshman middle blocker Kylie Miller. And Miller's second kill in a row sent the match to a fifth set.
It was tight all the way through, but IVC had its chances.
The set was tied at 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 7 before Irvine Valley created the slightest of separation with two points in a row.
Irvine Valley was up, 10-8, but then made three straight hitting errors to fall behind, 11-10.
Cypress took advantage and scored two more points in a row to make it a 5-0 run.
Irvine Valley got back within 13-11 on a kill by Cannon. But a kill by Rockelle Gholson gave Cypress match point at 14-11.
The Lasers stayed alive at 14-12 with a kill by freshman outside hitter Hannah Holder.
But a quick set and then kill in the middle by Cypress' Madrid finished the match.
"We will definitely learn a lot from this match," Irvine Valley coach Nate Ngo said. "I was proud of the way our team fought back. The second set hurt us. We let that one get away.
But I thought Taira (Ka'awaloa) had another great match and Lucee (Fitzgerald) did a nice job once we made the switch with her to libero."
Irvine Valley plays again next Wednesday in a conference match at Riverside at 6 p.m.
