In a battle between two of the hottest women's volleyball teams in the Orange Empire Conference, Irvine Valley took down Golden West, 25-19, 25-18, 25-18, Wednesday night at home.
The Lasers, ranked No. 9 in the state, went into the contest having won four matches in a row, while No. 25 Golden West had twon three straight.
It was Irvine Valley that kept its streak going.
The Lasers recorded their fifth straight win and fifth sweep in a row to hold on to a two-match lead at the top of the conference standings.
Irvine Valley took its record to 14-4 overall and 10-1 in conference. Golden West slippped to 9-8 overall and 6-5 in the OEC.
The Lasers had another impressive team hitting night.
IVC hit .357 (52-17-98).
That is following hitting .361 in a sweep at Orange Coast last Friday and .512 in a sweep over Riverside at home last Wednesday.
Freshman outside hitter Tessa Marocco had 19 kills, hit .342 and had nine digs to help lead the Lasers over Golden West.
Sophomore opposite Jayli Nealy ended with 15 kills, hit .346 and added three blocks and sophomore outside hitter Angelina Griego ended with nine kills, hit .467 and also chipped in nine digs.
Sophomore setter Maddie Harkey ran the offense with 40 assists and also had four digs and sophomore libero Gabi Brown contributed 15 digs for IVC.
The Lasers fell behind, 15-12, in the first set, but scored eight out of the next nine points and went ahead, 20-16, after a Golden West hitting error.
IVC went ahead, 24-18, on a block for a point by sophomore middle blocker Kendall Fraser. And Irvine Valley put the first set away two points later on a kill by Marocco.
The Lasers ran out to a 10-5 lead in the second set on a kill by Nealy.
Golden West got within a point midway through the set, but the Lasers took control shortly after and went up, 23-14, three kills in a row by Nealy.
A serve out by the Rustlers ended the set.
The third and final set was close throughout. The set was tied at 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11.
Golden West took a 14-11 lead after an IVC hitting error.
But the Lasers ralled and tied the set at 15 on a kill by Nealy.
An ace by freshman defensive specialist Hannah Ledesma put Irvine Valley up for good at 16-15.
Soon it was a 20-15 IVC advantage after another block by Fraser and then a kill by Griego.
And Irvine Valley closed the match strong after Golden West got within 21-18.
Marocco had two straight kills and Marocco and freshman middle blocker Avery Bennett combined for a block to end the match and another sweep for the Lasers.
Irvine Valley is in action again on Friday, traveling to No. 20 Cypress in a match at 5 p.m.
The Lasers defeated the Chargers in five sets (15-7 in the fifth) at home on Sept. 28.
