Irvine Valley Women’s Volleyball Reclaim OEC Title, Lands Top Honors

After winning their fourth Orange Empire Conference championship over the last five seasons, the Irvine Valley Women's Volleyball team was awarded with the bulk of the all-conference honors.

IVC's Ryan Windisch was named 2022 OEC Coach of the Year in his second season at the helm. The alumnus took over for former head coach Pestolesi, who spent 21 seasons with the Lasers, in 2021 and has maintained the program's high standards.

The Lasers also saw sophomore opposite Jayli Nealy and freshman outside hitter Tessa Marocco earn Co-MVP honors as they led their team to a record of 15-1 in conference play.

Nealy finished the year ranked third in the OEC in kills with 334 while adding 61 total blocks, good for fifth on the OEC leaderboard. Marocco was close behind in the kills category, recording the fourth highest total at 314. The freshman also contributed with 187 digs, 26 total blocks and 20 service aces.

In addition, Irvine Valley had five more players land on all-conference teams with Gabi Brown, Kendall Fraser, Maddie Harkey, Avery Bennett and Chloe Swanson earning spots.

The Orange Coast Pirates finished second in the OEC standings at 12-4 and have advanced to the CCCAA State Championships for the first time since 2009.

OCC was led by Paige Curtwright and Emily Payne, who were tabbed as All-OEC First Teamers. Curtwright was tops in the conference in kills percentage at .512 and collected 73 total blocks. Payne was the most productive libero all season as she led the conference with 299 digs in OEC play and 449 overall.

Brisa Zapata-Reaves and Grace Holmgren also earned recognition as they landed on the All-OEC second team.

Santa Ana had one of the best seasons in program history, taking third place in the OEC standings with a record of 11-5.

Matile Teixeira was key for the Dons as the sophomore finished with a conference high 64 service aces and the second most kills in the OEC at 335.  Ines Lopez joined her on the first team for the Dons as she added 288 digs and 32 service aces at the libero position.

The Dons were given two spots on the All-OEC second team as well with Alison Caswell and Kaiden Raif earning those.

Cypress and Golden West both went 9-7 in OEC play to tie for fourth in the standings.

Shayna Martinez and Zoe Munn were the all-conference selections for Cypress while Golden West saw Adriana Morales and Katie Griffin receive the same honors.

Saddleback ended the season in sixth place with a record of 7-9 and also got two players on the all-conference teams with Sydney Brown and Lilyann Horner. Fullerton trailed them by one spot in the standings, finishing 5-11. Anne Mayfield and Mareta Poe were All-OEC selections for the Hornets.

Riverside City finished in eighth at 4-12 and saw Maggie Aburto and Jessica Lepe get awarded with all-conference honors. Rounding the group out was Santiago Canyonin the ninth place spot. The Hawks sent Paige Schiefelbein and Christine Goff to the All-OEC teams.

2022 All-OEC Women's Volleyball Awards

2022 OEC Volleyball Coach of the Year: Ryan Windisch

2022 OEC Volleyball Co-MVP: Jayli Nealy and Tessa Marocco

2022 All-OEC First Team

Gabi Brown (Irvine Valley)

Kendall Fraser (Irvine Valley)

Maddie Harkey (Irvine Valley)

Paige Curtwright (Orange Coast)

Emily Payne (Orange Coast)

Matilde Teixeira (Santa Ana)

Ines Lopes (Santa Ana)

Shayna Martinez (Cypress)

Adriana Morales (Golden West)

Sydney Brown (Saddleback)

Anne Mayfield (Fullerton)

Maggie Aburto (Riverside City)

Paige Schiefelbein (Santiago Canyon)

2022 All-OEC Second Team

Avery Bennett (Irvine Valley)

Chloe Swanson (Irvine Valley)

Brisa Zapata-Reaves (Orange Coast)

Grace Holmgren (Orange Coast)

Alison Caldwell (Santa Ana)

Kaiden Raif (Santa Ana)

Zoe Munn (Cypress)

Katie Griffin (Golden West)

Lilyann Horner (Saddleback)

Mareta Poe (Fullerton)

Jessica Lepe (Riverside City)

Christine Goff (Santiago Canyon)

Release by Cammie Lewis, Santa Ana SID