The Irvine Valley men's volleyball team continues to battle for the one of the top positions in the state is it enters its final week of the regular season.
The Lasers, ranked No. 2 in the state, sit in a virtual tie for first place in the Orange Empire Conference with No. 3 Orange Coast.
IVC ends the regular season with a home match against Fullerton on Wednesday at 6 p.m. and then takes on No. 9 Santiago Canyon on the road Friday at 6 p.m.
Irvine Valley won its fifth straight Orange Empire Conference match last Friday night at home, rolling in a 25-11, 25-19, 25-20 win over Golden West.
The victory improved IVC's record to 14-2 overall and 5-1 in conference.
The sweep was Irvine Valley's 10th of the season and fourth in its last five contests. Sophomore opposite Demetre Gossett finished with nine kills, five digs and two aces.
Sophomore outside hitter Leonardo Mazuco, and freshman outside hitters Damon Kooiman and Zach McEntire each had seven kills for IVC. McEntire added eight digs.
Sophomore middle blocker Julio Gutierrez added six kills and five blocks, freshman setter Kaina Alvarez ran the offense with 32 digs and sophomore libero Adam Schulte contributed 12 digs for the Lasers.
So far this season, Gossett is averaging 3.71 kills per set and hitting .317 to lead the way.
Kooiman averages 2.49 kills and hitting .310 and McEntire averages 2.02 kills per set.
Gutierrez is averaging 1.39 kills and hitting a team-best .444. Alvarez is averaging 7.42 assists and Schulte averages 3.58 digs per set.
Gossett ranks fifth in the state in kills per set, is fourth in total kills (208) and first aces per set (0.82). Schulte paces the state in digs per set and total digs (204).
Fullerton has a record of 4-13 overall and is 0-6 in the Orange Empire Conference.
The Hornets took on second in the state Orange Coast last Wednesday at home and fell, 25-12, 25-18, 25-11.
Albert Razo finished with five kills and five digs for Fullerton and Jason Thomson and Connor Stoebe each added four kills. Junior Paniagua ended with 14 assists for Fullerton.
On the year, Billy Veng is averaging 2.40 kills per set and hitting .331. Denim Young and Ramos each average 1.58 kills per set.
Razo is averaging 1.61 digs and Nathan Cheav averages 8.53 assists per set for the Hornets.
