Irvine Valley's women's volleyball team captured its third win in a row and moved into a tie for first place in the Orange Empire Conference standings after four matches with a four-set win over Saddleback Wednesday night at home.
The Lasers, ranked No. 8 in the state, had to battle, but earned a 25-23, 27-25, 17-25, 25-17 win to improve their record to 9-2 overall and 3-1 in conference.
Irvine Valley, Golden West and Saddleback are all tied at 3-1 in the OEC after Wednesday.
The Lasers have a bye on Friday, but will host two matches next week. IVC plays Fullerton at 6 p.m. at home on Wednesday and then Orange Coast at 6 p.m. on Friday.
On Wednesday, Irvine Valley led early in the first set against Saddleback, but the Bobcats tied it at 16-16.
The Lasers rolled off four points in a row, including gettin an ace by sophomore setter Mia Bartolone and a block from sophomore middle blocker Avery Bennett to go ahead, 20-16.
Saddleback pulled within one point at 21-20, 22-21, 23-22 and 24-23, but a kill by sophomore opposite Ava Guenther ended the set for IVC.
Irvine Valley won another tough one at the end in the second set. Saddleback held a 19-18 advantage, but a block by sophomore middle blocker Natalia Brandlin and freshman outside hitter Tatum Pongs tied things at 19.
It was back and forth after that. Irvine Valley took a 23-21 lead on an overpass kill by sophomore outside hitter Tessa Marocco.
Saddleback then scored two in a row and tied it up at 23-23 on a kill by Stila Fresenius.
The set was tied at 24 and 25 before IVC scored the final two points. A Saddleback hitting error gave the Lasers a 27-25 win and a two-set advantage.
The Bobcats came right back, jumping out to a 10-4 lead in the third set and never looking back. A hitting error by Irvine Valley gave Saddleback a 24-17 lead and Fresenius ended the set with a kill.
But Irvine Valley stayed focus and played its best volleyball of the night in the fourth set.
The Lasers raced out to a 11-2 lead on an ace by freshman libero Audrey Fowler.
A kill by Marocco put Irvine Valley ahead, 19-9, and an overpass kill by Brandlin made it 22-13 Lasers.
Brandlin had another kill to get IVC to match point at 24-16 and two points later Marocco ended things with a cross-court kill.
Marocco finished with 12 kills and 13 digs, Guenther had 10 kills, six digs and three blocks, Brandlin added nine kills and five blocks and Pongs contributed nine kills and nine digs.
Bertolone, who leads the state in assists per set, ran the offense with 42 assists and added 18 digs for the Lasers and Fowler ended with 17 digs.
