Irvine Valley's women's volleyball team dropped its first set of the 2018 season, but the Lasers still perfect record-wise on the year.
IVC, ranked No. 1 in the state, won the first two sets at Riverside on Friday night and extended its set win-streak on the season to 29, before Riverside won the third game. The Lasers closed things out in four.
Irvine Valley came away with a 25-12, 25-21, 23-15, 25-18 over Riverside in an Orange Empire Conference match on the road.
The Lasers hit just .205 on the night - their lowest hitting percentage in a match this season - but grinded out the victory.
Irvine Valley had four players with at least nine kills. Freshman outside hitter Lea Kruse finished with 16 kills, 15 digs and three block, sophomore outside hitter Alyssa Vortouni added 13 kills, freshman outside hitter Gabriela Griego had 10 kills and freshman middle blocker Kristin Austin chipped in nine kills and hit .500 on the night.
Sophomore middle blocker Kylie Miller had eight kills, sophomore libero Renata Bath ended with 19 digs, freshman defensive specialist Alaina Gendale had 14 digs and freshman setter Truth Hafey contributed 45 assists, seven digs and three aces for the Lasers.
Irvine Valley, which improved its record to 10-0 overall and 6-0 in conference, has two important conference matches this coming week. The Lasers host Orange Coast on Wednesday at 6 p.m. and then host Cypress on Friday at 6 p.m.
Orange Coast sits second in the conference standings behind IVC. The Pirates have a record of 15-1 overall and 6-1 in conference. Cypress is 9-6 overall and tied for third in the OEC at 4-2.
