The Irvine Valley men's volleyball team has three matches left in the regular season with an Orange Empire Conference title on the line.
The Lasers, who have won four matches in a row, including beating Orange Coast in five sets on the road last Friday night, are back in action Friday when they host Golden West at 6 p.m.
Orange Coast and Irvine Valley are tied for second in the state rankings and tied at the top of the OEC standings with records of 4-1.
IVC (13-2 overall) moved into the tie with the Pirates after a 29-27, 25-17, 21-25, 18-25, 15-8 triumph.
In the victory, freshman outside hitter Damon Kooiman came through with 15 kills and hit .545. Sophomore opposite Demetre Gossett had 13 kills, eight digs and a season-best seven aces. Sophomore middle blocker Julio Gutierrez ended with eight kills, hit .462 and had five blocks. Freshman setter Kaina Alvarez ran the offense with 39 assists and added nine digs and sophomore libero Adam Schulte had 12 digs for IVC.
So far this season, Gossett is averaging 3.75 kills per set and hitting .326 to lead the way.
Kooiman averages 2.45 kills and hitting .310 and Zach McEntire averages 1.96 kills per set.
Gutierrez is averaging 1.35 kills and hitting a team-best .440.
Alvarez is averaging 7.83 assists and Schulte averages 3.56 digs per set.
Gossett ranks fourth in the state in kills per set, is third in total kills (199) and first aces per set (0.83).
Schulte paces the state in digs per set and total digs (192).
IVC finishes up the regular season next week, hosting Fullerton on Wednesday and playing at Santiago on Friday.
Golden West has a record of 3-15 overall and is 1-4 in the Orange Empire Conference. The Rustlers are coming off of a four-set (25-20, 25-20, 17-25, 25-20) loss at home to Santiago Canyon on Wednesday.
The previous Wednesday Golden West topped Fullerton in five sets on the road.
On the year, Nicholas Maya is averaging 2.00 kills per set and Louis Zaffino averages 1.98 kills per set. Jaden Kodongan averages 6.66 assists and 1.79 digs per set and Anikan Miranda is averaging 2.55 digs per set for GWC.
