Irvine Valley's women's volleyball team swept another opponent on Wednesday night, beating Fullerton, 25-20, 25-21, 25-16 in an Orange Empire Conference match on the road.
The Lasers weren't as sharp as usual, hitting just .240 on the night with 16 hitting errors and 12 serving errors, but the Lasers got the job done and recorded their 13th sweep of 2018.
Irvine Valley, ranked No. 1 in the state and the defending state champion, won its 42nd-match in a row dating back to the start of the 2017 season.
IVC also stayed unbeaten on the year, improving to 15-0 overall and 11-0 in conference.
The Lasers are now just one win away from clinching at least a share of the conference title.
Irvine Valley was paced by sophomore outside hitter Alyssa Vortouni. She has been a key player all season, but has especially stepped up over the last month. Vortouni finished with 12 kills and hit .435. She also had four digs and three blocks in the match.
Freshman middle blocker Kristin Austin had another solid match with eight kills. She hit .368 and added three blocks.
Sophomore middle blocker Kylie Miller finished with six kills and four blocks and freshmen outside hitters Lea Kruse and Alaina Gendale each contributed five kills. Gendale also had 15 digs, while Kruse ended with seven digs and two aces.
Sophomore libero Renata Bath ended with 14 digs and freshman setter Truth Hafey had two kills and three blocks to go along with 35 assists.
IVC got off to a little bit of a slow start, but an ace by sophomore specialist Jade Parham gave the Lasers a 17-14 advantage.
Vortouni finished the first set with a kill.
Irvine Valley held a narrow lead for most of the second set. A kill by Miller put IVC ahead, 23-21. Back-to-back hitting errors gave Irvine Valley the set.
The Lasers went on a 5-1 run in the third set to go up, 7-4.
It was back and forth in the third set. A kill by Austin gave Irvine Valley a 11-10 lead. That kill started a 4-0 run for IVC and the Lasers never looked back.
Irvine Valley has four matches remaining over the next two and a half weeks. The squad's match with Santa Ana scheduled for this Friday at Irvine Valley has been cancelled by the Dons and won't be made up.
IVC hosts Santiago Canyon next Wednesday at 6 p.m. and then has a bye on Friday, Nov. 2.
The Lasers then finish the season with a home contest against Riverside on Wednesday, Nov. 7 and travel for their final two matches at Orange Coast on Friday, Nov. 9 and at Cypress on Wednesday, Nov. 14.
