Irvine Valley wins third Orange Empire Conference title in a row

Irvine Valley's women's volleyball team won another Orange Empire Conference championship Friday night.

The Lasers clinched their third title in a row with a 25-21, 25-27, 25-21, 25-18 victory over Cypress on sophomore night at IVC.

The victory put Irvine Valley, ranked No. 19 in the state, two matches ahead of both No. 15 Cypress and No. 18 Fullerton with just one contest left to play in the regular season.

Capturing a title was quite an accomplishment for a team that saw six players move on to play at four-year colleges last year, including four at the Division 1 level.

The Lasers, who went undefeated and won the state title a year ago, returned just four players and two starters from last season's squad.

"I am proud of each and every one of these kids," Irvine Valley coach Tom Pestolesi said. "I wasn't sure what to expect early in the season, but we kept getting better and better throughout. And look at where we are tonight. We are a totally different team than we were in August."

The win was also a milestone for Pestolesi, who earned his 300th victory at the college.

Irvine Valley got big nights from several players in the win Friday.

Freshman right side Olivia Aguilar ended with 20 kills and hit .386. Sophomore outside hitter Kayla Scheevel had 16 kills, 24 digs and three aces. Sophomore outside hitter Hannah Matt added 13 kills, six blocks and seven digs. Sophomore libero Emily Reinking had 25 digs, freshman defensive specialist Cozette Hawyrliak chipped in 11 digs and four aces and sophomore setter Jenna Olbright contributed 51 assists.

Irvine Valley scored eight of the final nine points to win the first set. IVC trailed, 20-17, but scored four in a row to take a 21-20 lead. Tied, 21-21, IVC won the last four points. Matt ended the set with a kill down the line.

The second set was back and forth until Cypress broke a 15-15 tie with a 6-1 run. Up, 21-18, the Chargers scored three points and had set point after an ace by Madison May.

But Irvine Valley scrambled back with six points in a row and tied it at 24-24 after an ace by Scheevel, a kill by Aguilar and a hitting error by Cypress.

The set was tied at 25-25 after a kill by Aguilar, but Cypress scored the next two points to take it. Rockelle Gholson had a kill and then Emily Witz served an ace.

IVC got out to a big lead in the third set. It was up, 20-11, and later, 22-14, before Cypress made it closer.

The Chargers scored five points in a row. Two straight errors by the Lasers got Cypress within 22-19.

Aguilar ended the Cypress run with a kill to give Irvine Valley a 23-19 lead.

Cypress closed to 24-21 after a kill by May. But the Lasers closed the set on the next point with a kill by Scheevel.

The fourth set was tied, 3-3, when Hawyrliak went back to serve. She helped Irvine Valley put the match away with a 7-0 run. Hawyrliak had four aces during the streak.

Irvine Valley later went ahead, 18-8, on an ace by Reinking and it was 20-8 after a combo block by Matt and freshman middle blocker Brittany Tuliau.

Cypress didn't get closer than six points the rest of the way.

Scheevel wrapped up IVC's conference title with a kill on match point.

Irvine Valley finishes the regular season next Wednesday at Orange Coast at 6 p.m.