Irvine Valley Athletics was featured in three of the top 10 of the first annual Orange Empire Conference Top 10 Stories/Moments of the year for 2019-20.
Honored for Irvine Valley and highlighted below are stories about Renata Bath's outstanding journey both on and off the court as a part of the Laser volleyball program and special, award-winning seasons by the IVC women's basketball and indoor volleyball teams.
10 - SANTA ANA'S EMILY ROSAS THROWS BACK TO BACK NO-HITTERS IN OEC ACTION
Emily Rosas recorded two consecutive no-hitters as she shut down the Golden West and Orange Coast lineups in Orange Empire Conference action. In 12 innings of work, Rosas struck out eight batters and led Santa Ana to back-to-back wins.
9 - IVC'S RENATA BATH ('18) RECEIVES CCCAA SCHOLAR ATHLETE AWARD
Former Irvine Valley volleyball star player Renata Bath didn't get a chance to receive a top award in early April.
Bath, who now plays at UC Riverside, was slated to be named a California Community College Athletic Association women's volleyball state scholar award winner for her great work in the classroom, on the court and as a leader for the Lasers.
She was to be honored last Thursday at the annual CCCAA Spring Convention in Ontario. But the event was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
We will honor her here instead and that trophy/plaque will be on its way.
Bath definitely made her mark for the Irvine Valley women's indoor volleyball and women's beach volleyball programs during the 2017-18 and 2018-19 school years.
Last spring, Bath reached the CCCAA State Women's Beach Volleyball Championship semifinals in the pairs event with teammate Lea Kruse and helped her IVC squad finish third in the state championship team event.
Bath, who plays the libero position indoors, was named co-Most Valuable Player of the Orange Empire Conference in the fall of 2018 after helping her team win a second OEC title in a row and make another trip to the state tournament.
She was also picked All-State by the CCCAA and second team All-American by the American Volleyball Coaches Association in the fall of 2018.
Bath helped lead the Irvine Valley women's indoor team to a state championship and undefeated season in 2017.
The sophomore libero played a big part in IVC finishing with a 21-2 overall record indoors in 2018.
Bath made things easier for the Lasers indoors and on the sand with her superb ball control and all-around hustle.
She had a team-leading 293 digs and averaged 3.91 digs per set indoors in the fall of 2018.
Bath ranked fifth in the Orange Empire Conference in digs per set during the regular season.
She recorded 10 digs or more in 18 matches, including Irvine Valley's final nine contests. She recorded 22 and then 21 digs, respectively in IVC's two matches at the state tournament in Solano in the fall of 2018.
Bath helped Irvine Valley win four conference titles (two with the indoor squad and two with the beach team) and also made the state tournament in beach volleyball both years.
Bath, originally from Brazil and out of Ja Jolla High, signed to play at UC Riverside and had a solid season for the Highlanders last fall, leading the squad in digs per set at 2.92.
She was a scholar athlete every semester at Irvine Valley, was chosen as IVC's female scholar athlete of the year for 2018-19 and is studying pre-med at UC Riverside.
Bath joins Marisa Doran, who was also honored for as a Scholar Athlete Award winner for volleyball/beach volleyball in 2015 for Irvine Valley.
The Scholar Athlete Award is the highest student achievement honor awarded annually by the CCCAA. The winners, along with the rest of the annual honor roll, are selected by the CCCAA Awards Committee from nominations made by community colleges throughout California.
Candidates for the Scholar Athlete Award must carry a minimum GPA of 3.5 and must also show outstanding leadership as an athlete, student, or in other college and community activities, as well as have participated in two seasons of sport at a California community college.
8 - RCC TRACK & FIELD SWEEPS PODIUM AT OEC INVITATIONAL
The men won 10 of the 19 events coming in the 4 x 100 M Relay, 100 M, 4 x 400 M Relay, 200 M, Long Jump, 400 M Hurdles, 100 M Hurdles, 1500 M, High Jump, Pole Vault and Discus. The women followed with 11 top finishes coming in the Shot Put, Discus, Hammer, Triple Jump, 4 x 100 M Relay, 4 x 400 M Relay, 400 M Hurdles, 100 M, 200 M and 400 M.
7 - RCC MEN'S BASKETBALL DEFEATS #2 SANTIAGO CANYON, CLINCHES SHARED OEC TITLE
The Tigers were down by two points entering into the second half. However, a second-half jolt from freshman guard Zekiah LoVett carried the Riverside to a 76-72 victory. LoVett went 5-for-8 from long range en route to a season-high 23 points. The outcome looked bleak for Riverside with under two minute remaining after the succumbed to a 13-2 run to put the Hawks ahead. Nevertheless, freshman point guard Melvin Walker cashed in at the charity stripe following a technical foul to snag the lead. From there, Riverside went 9-of-01 from the line to seal the win.
6 - SADDLEBACK WOMEN PLACE SECOND AT STATE
Dana McGrath was her normal self, leading the pack of Gaucho harriers with a sixth place finish at the state finals. She covered the 5k course in 18:48.7, finishing 21.2 seconds off the pace set by Moorpark's Sophia Cortina. She was followed by teammates Nayelli Hernandez (18), Holly Morales (19), Cayla Porter (28) and Alexis Park (38), who all finished in the top-40 in the team competition. McGrath earned All-America honors as a result of finishing in the top 14 at the state finals. Saddleback knew it would be a tall task to out-duel either Glendale College or Hartnell College, who entered as the favorites to win the state title after winning their respective regional finals. The Gauchos grabbed hold of the moment, finishing second and outdueling both Mt. San Antonio College and Hartnell to finish second in the state.
5 - 2019 FULLERTON COLLEGE MEN'S SOCCER TEAM - BACK-TO-BACK OEC CHAMPIONS
The 2019 Hornets did not necessarily begin the season how they had hoped with a 4-3-2 overall record by the end of September. Despite the cooler weather in October and November, the Hornets heated up only losing 3 regular season games, while winning 8 OEC games. Finishing strong with a 1-0 win over a tough Golden West College squad, the Hornets earned their second straight Orange Empire Conference championship trophy. FC went on to beat Bakersfield College at home 1-0 in the first round of the CCCAA Regional Playoffs. The Hornets lost in the second round to visiting Oxnard College 2-0.
4 - GOLDEN WEST MEN'S WATER POLO WINS 2019 STATE CHAMPIONSHIP
Manuel Augosto scores state championship clinching goal with 10 seconds remaining against LBCC. He was also Co-MVP in the OEC.
3 - IVC WOMEN'S BASKETBALL GOES UNDEFEATED
Irvine Valley's women's basketball team finished a perfect Orange Empire Conference schedule with a 64-49 win over Fullerton at home in late February.
The Lasers, ranked No. 4 in the state, started the evening by honoring sophomore players Ana Washington, Zoe Stachowski, Kelli Murakami-Hanashiro and Emma Vasquez and then battled back from a half-time deficit for another victory.
The triumph – along with two forfeit victories over Orange Coast – pushed IVC's record to 26-2 overall and 14-0 in conference.
Irvine Valley trailed a gritty Fullerton team, 33-27, at the half.
But the Lasers got after it in the third quarter, especially on the defensive end.
IVC held Fullerton (17-11, 9-5) to just five points in the third quarter to take control.
Irvine Valley out-scored the Hornets, 19-5, in the period.
Washington and Stachowski combined for 14 of those 19 points and the duo also came up with 13 rebounds.
Irvine Valley held a 46-38 lead going into the fourth quarter and never looked back.
Freshman guard Jessica Suruor made a jumper early in the fourth quarter to push IVC's lead to double digits at 48-38 and Fullerton never got closer than seven points the rest of the way.
Three free throws by Stachowski in the final minute pushed Irvine Valley's advantage to 15 points.
Irvine Valley shot just 28.6 percent (20 of 70) from the field in the game, but helped hold Fullerton to only 26.7 percent (16 of 60).
Fullerton had 21 turnovers in the contest and IVC took advantage, turning those miscues into 18 points.
Washington and Stachowski had big nights.
Washington finished with 20 points and 16 rebounds and Stachowski had 17 points and 18 rebounds for the Lasers. Murakami-Hanashiro came off the bench with 10 points and freshman guard Samantha Uehara had six points and seven rebounds for IVC.
The Lasers ended up finishing the year with a record of 25-3 overall. They ended up reaching the California Community College Athletic Association Southern Regional Final before falling to Ventura, 70-67, on the road.
Washington was named the OEC player of the year with coach Julia Hanks being picked as the coach of the year. Stachowski and freshman guard Morgan Higgins were named first team all-conference and Suruor was chosen to the second team.
Washington was the only player from California to earn a two-year community college Women's Basketball Coaches Associaton All-American honor. She was named to the honorable mention team after averaging 18.1 points, 10.1 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 2.3 steals per game. She also shot an impressive 55.3 percent from the field. She has signed with Cal State Los Angeles.
Hanks also ended up topping the 400-win mark for here career with the 25 victories. She ended her 23rd season with a record of 414-225.
2 - IVC WOMEN'S INDOOR VOLLEYBALL GOES UNDEFEATED
Irvine Valley's women's volleyball team finished its second undefeated regular season in three years in November.
The Lasers, ranked No. 1 in the state, earned their 19th sweep of the season and 14th in Orange Empire Conference play with a 25-17, 25-15, 25-18 win at Saddleback.
Irvine Valley improved its record to 23-0 overall. The Lasers, who had already wrapped up their third straight OEC title, went 16-0 in conference.
Irvine Valley last lost during the regular season to Cypress in five sets on the road on Nov. 14, 2018.
The Lasers dominated another conference team on Tuesday.
Irvine Valley hit .353 as a team and had 45 assists and 45 digs.
IVC was paced by sophomore outside hitter Lea Kruse, who finished with 17 kills, nine digs and four aces.
Sophomore middle blocker Kristin Austin added 13 kills, three blocks and hit .500.
Sophomore outside hitter Gabriela Griego had 10 kills, sophomore libero Anna Unke came up with 14 digs and sophomore setter Truth Hafey ended with 44 assists, six digs and two blocks.
Irvine Valley ended up going 27-1 on the year, dropping its only match of the season to American River in five sets in the California Community College Athletic Association State Championship in December.
Seven Laser players were named to all-OEC teams with Austin and Kruse sharing MVP honors and coach Tom Pestolesi was picked as the coach of the year.
Austin was named a American Volleyball Coaches Association All-American as well as first team all-state. And Kruse and Hafey were chosen as All-Southern California Region picks for the Lasers. Pestolesi earned SoCal Region Coach of the Year honors for the second time in three seasons.
Kruse ended up signing with the University of Hawaii to play beach volleyball, Hafey signed with Georgia State for indoor volleyball and Austin recently signed with Cal State Fullerton for indoor volleyball.
IVC also had Unke sign with Cal State Bakersfield for both indoor and beach and sophomore outside hitter Alaina Gendale sign with Cal State Bakersfield for beach.
1 - 2019 FULLERTON COLLEGE WOMEN'S WATER POLO TEAM - OEC AND STATE CHAMPIONS
They were ranked No. 2 during the first half of the season and then moved up to No. 1 after one weekend tournament at Cuesta College. In that tournament, the Hornets had to battle three teams that ranked in the top 4 in the state. Led by sophomore Bryanna Santis' 11 goals, went on to beat No. 1 Riverside City, No. 4 Long Beach City, and No. 3 Santa Barbara City. The Hornets held the No. 1 spot heading into the state tournament where they had to face Orange Empire Conference rival, No. 2 Riverside City College in the final match, which they defeated to haul in a state title.
