Anai Washington and Demetre Gossett are Irvine Valley's best

Posted: Jun 19, 2020

Irvine Valley standout, two-year women's basketball player Anai Washington and amazing, two-year men's volleyball player Demetre Gossett are Irvine Valley's female and male athlete of the year, respectively, for the IVC 2019-20 20th Annual Athletic Awards program.

Both players were on top of their games for the past two years at IVC.

Washington had already been named the Orange Empire Conference Most Valuable Player and been selected first team all-state, but she earned more accolades after her 2019-20 season ended.

She was the only player from California to earn a two-year community college Women's Basketball Coaches Associaton All-American honor.

Washington was named to the honorable mention team.

The star guard, who is headed to continue playing at Cal State Los Angeles, was selected as the OEC MVP and was picked to the first team all-state by the California Community College Women's Basketball Coaches Association this past season.

She was part of two straight IVC teams that won conference titles. And after being selected first team all-conference last year, she was picked as the best player in the OEC in 2019-20.

Washington (Norco High) helped lead Irvine Valley to a record of 25-3 overall, 12-0 in the Orange Empire Conference and another trip to the CCCAA So. Cal. Regional Playoff finals this past season.

She has been part of Irvine Valley squads that have went 48-9 the past two years, won two conference titles and made the regional finals twice.

For the 2019-20 season, she averaged a double-double on the year. Washington's numbers were 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.

And Washington was even better during conference action, where Irvine Valley went 12-0 and wrapped up its third OEC title in a row.

She averaged 19.6 points, 10.8 rebounds, 5.1 assists and 3.8 steals a game in conference.

She scored in double figures in 27 of 28 games and topped 20 points in 11 contests. Washington scored a season-high 32 points as Irvine Valley defeated Santa Ana, 77-59, on Feb. 11 at home. Showing her all-around ability, she also had eight rebounds, seven assists and three steals in that game.

Washington also had double-digit rebounds in 17 games with a season-high of 16 against Fullerton on Feb. 21 as IVC wrapped up an undefeated conference season. She added 20 points in the win.

During her freshman year in 2018-19, Washington averaged 15.5 points, 7.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.8 steals per game.

Gossett was off to a special start in the 2020 spring season with the IVC men's volleyball team.

He was not only the Lasers' best player, but one of the standouts in the state. Gossett led the California Community College Athletic Association in total kills with 182 and ranked No. 5 in kills per set at 3.79 when the 2020 spring season was halted due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The 6-1 player out of Hillcrest High in Riverside, shined for the last two seasons for the Lasers and helped IVC finish second at the CCCAA state championship in 2019 at Fullerton College.

The Lasers upset favored, undefeated and top-seeded Orange Coast in five sets in the semifinal before falling to Long Beach City in the state final in 2019. Irvine Valley finished with a record of 15-8 overall.

Gossett was named second team all-Orange Empire Conference in 2019.

Gossett led IVC in hitting at .314 in conference action and also averaged 0.94 aces per set. He averaged 2.47 kills per set overall for the Lasers.

His start to 2020 was even better.

Gossett played in 12 matches and recorded double-digit kills in eight matches, including going over 20 kills in four contests.

He had 26 kills in IVC's five-set win at Fullerton to open Orange Empire Conference play on Mar. 11. It was the last match of the season for Irvine Valley.

Gossett also recorded 26 kills and hit .488 in a five-set Laser win at Moorpark on Feb. 19.

Irvine Valley had a record of 6-7 overall and was ranked No. 9 in the state by the men's volleyball coaches association.

He has signed with Vanguard University to continue his academic and athletic career next year.