Irvine Valley's women's volleyball team bounced back from a disappointing loss on Wednesday with one of its biggest victories of the season so far.
Irvine Valley defeated Riverside in four sets, 25-21, 16-25, 25-15, 25-21, at home in an Orange Empire Conference match on Friday. IVC had lost to Riverside in five sets earlier in the season.
The win on Friday pushed Irvine Valley closer to Riverside in the standings as well.
Irvine Valley improved its record to 10-5 overall and 8-4 in conference, while Riverside fell to 14-6 overall and 8-3 in conference. IVC is just a match behind Riverside and Golden West for third place in the standings.
Irvine Valley was coming off a three-set loss at the hands of top of the conference Cypress on Wednesday night. It snapped a five-match win streak for the Lasers.
"The best thing to do sometimes is just let them go out and play," IVC coach Nate Ngo said. "I thought all of the players did a great job tonight."
Irvine Valley trailed, 19-18, in the first set, but won four of the next five points to go ahead. Freshman middle blocker Kylie Miller and freshman opposite Hannah Holder came up with a block and then sophomore outside hitter Lucee Fitzgerald had a kill to give IVC a 22-19 lead.
Irvine Valley later moved to set point at 24-21 on a kill by Fitzgerald. IVC picked up the set after a Riverside hitting error.
Riverside took control of the second set early. The Tigers moved out to a 23-14 lead after a kill by Lauren Wells and a kill by Huafa Saulala.
A block by Kellsy Russell gave Riverside set point at 24-16 and a kill by Marissa Vialpando on the next point ended the set.
Irvine Valley played its best volleyball of the night in the third set. After a nearly 10-minute delay after a question about a rotation issue, Irvine Valley broke the set open. The lasers went on an 11-3 run.
Highlights during the IVC run included, two kills by Fitzgerald, a block by freshman right side Diamonique Brogan, a block by sophomore middle blocker Hailey Riden and sophomore opposite Juju Cannon and an ace by sophomore libero Taylor Askins.
A tip for a winner by Cannon put Irvine Valley ahead, 22-10.
Riverside got within 24-15. But another kill by Fitzgerald closed out the set.
Irvine Valley had to really battle to get the win in the fourth set.
The Lasers trailed, 14-10, after a kill by Saulala and were later down, 17-16, and, 18-17.
Irvine Valley then scored two straight to take a 19-18 advantage. Cannon had a kill and Riden and Cannon combined for a block.
The set was then tied at 19 and 20 before Irvine Valley took the lead for good. A net called on Riverside put IVC up, 21-20, and a kill by freshman outside hitter Taira Ka'awaloa made it 22-20 for the Lasers.
A kill by Tiarah McDaniel got Riverside to 22-21, but a big block by Brogan on Wells gave IVC a 23-21 lead.
And after a nice roll shot by Fitzgerald, Irvine Valley was at match point at 24-21.
Two points later Fitzgerald ended the match with a kill.
Fitzgerald and Ka'awaloa each finished with 14 kills. Ka'awaloa also had 16 digs and Fitzgerald added 14 digs.
Freshman setter Savanah Schroeder ended with 20 assists and 10 digs and sophomore setter Alissa Blevins contributed 18 assists and 13 digs.
Cannon had six kills and six assists, Riden ended with five kills and seven blocks and Brogan came up with three big blocks for the Lasers.
"I thought Diamond (Brogan) came in and did an awesome job with her blocking," Ngo said. "That was really a huge spark for us in the third and fourth sets. Everyone on the team really had their moments and stepped up."
Irvine Valley has two more important conference matches next week. The Lasers travel to second-place Saddleback on Wednesday and then host tied for third Golden West next Friday at 6 p.m. in what will be Irvine Valley's Dig Pink to help support breast cancer awareness.
