Irvine Valley's women's volleyball team has another important Orange Empire Conference match tonight at home, taking on a surging Golden West squad at 6 p.m.
Irvine Valley is ranked No. 9 in the state for the second straight week and has a record of 13-4 overall and leads the OEC with a record of 9-1.
IVC has found its rhythm in the last several matches.
The Lasers, guided by coach Ryan Windisch, played one of their best matches of the season last Friday at Orange Coast, beating the Pirates, 25-19, 25-21, 25-20.
Irvine Valley has won four matches in a row and all were sweeps. Freshman outside hitter Tessa Marocco had 20 kills to lead the way for IVC. She hit .447 on the night and added six digs.
Sophomore opposite Jayli Nealy hit .524 with 13 kills for the Lasers.
Sophomore outside hitter Angelina Griego ended with four kills and five digs, sophomore setter Maddie Harkey ran the offense with 35 assists and had eight digs, sphomore libero Gabi Brown contributed a team-high 16 digs and freshman middle blocker Avery Bennett added four blocks.
IVC hit .361 as a team in the match.
On the year, Marocco is averaging 4.25 kills per set, which ranks No. 10 in the state.
Nealy is averaging 4.12 kills per set, which is 11th in the state, Brown is averaging 3.80 digs and Harkey averages 7.66 assists per set for Irvine Valley.
Golden West, ranked No. 25 in the state this week, has a record of 9-7 overall and a 6-4 mark in conference.
Golden West has won three straight matches and is tied for third place in the OEC. GWC moved up to No. 25 in the state rankings this week.
Golden West swept Saddleback, 25-11, 25-12, 25-12, at home last Friday.
The Rustlers had their best hitting night of the season with a .396.
GWC was led by Adriana Morales, who had 19 kills and hit .436 and Paige Phillips, who finished with nine kills and hit .538.
Setter Katie Griffin recorded 32 assists.
On the season, Morales is averaging 4.07 kills and 3.26 digs per set, Maci Hendry averages 2.29 kills and 2.36 digs, Phillips averages 1.57 kills and Griffin is averaging 5.70 assists and 2.80 digs per set.
