Irvine Valley's women's volleyball team had two work, especially in the second set, but swept its 11th straight team and kept its season-long undefeated streak alive with a 25-12, 27-25, 25-12 win over Riverside in an Orange Empire Conference match at home on Wednesday night.
The Lasers, ranked No. 1 in the state, improved their record to 19-0 overall and 12-0 in conference.
A couple of other important numbers also stood out for IVC.
Irvine Valley won its 33rd, 34th and 35th sets in a row and moved within one match of clinching its third straight conference title.
The Lasers will go after the crown on Friday against Orange Coast on the road at 6 p.m.
Irvine Valley jumped out to a huge lead in the opening set. A kill by sophomore outside hitter and returning conference MVP Lea Kruse put the Lasers ahead, 19-6.
Another kill by Kruse made it 21-9 and later Irvine Valley reached set point on a lift call on Riverside.
A kill by sophomore outside hitter Alaina Gendale on the next point ended the set.
But the second set wasn't so easy for IVC.
Riverside (11-12, 5-8) raced out to a 7-3 lead and Irvine Valley was playing catch up after that. The Lasers came back and took a 14-12 lead on an ace by sophomore setter Truth Hafey.
And the Lasers were up, 17-15, on a kill by Gendale.
Irvine Valley led, 19-17, when Riverside called a timeout to regroup. And the Tigers came fighting back.
They went up, 22-21, and then took a 23-21 lead on a kill by Jasmine Urban.
Riverside reached set point at 24-22 on a tip winner by Urban.
But Irvine Valley stayed alive on a kill by sophomore outside hitter Gabriela Griego and then a hitting error by Riverside.
Irvine Valley fought off another set point at 25-24 with a kill by Gendale.
And the Lasers didn't lose another point in the set. Gendale followed with another kill to make it 26-25 and sophomore libero Anna Unke ended the second set with an ace.
The third set was a lot like the first. Irvine Valley led from start to finish.
Sophomore middle blocker Alma Entesari began the set with a kill and Irvine Valley started to roll.
The Lasers took a 16-4 lead and after a kill by Kruse, they were up, 20-7.
Another kill by Kruse made the score 23-11 and an ace by Hafey gave the Lasers match point at 24-11.
Two points later, Riverside was called for a net and Irvine Valley had yet anothr victory.
Griego had 12 kills, Gendale finished with 11 kills and 11 digs and Kruse had 10 kills, 10 assists and three blocks for the Lasers.
Sophomore middle blocker Kristin Austin added eight kills and four blocks, Unke contributed a team-high 18 digs and four aces and Hafey ended with 40 assists, seven digs and two aces.
