IVC women’s volleyball picks up second preseason win over Moorpark
Sophomore Allison Cook spikes the ball late in the first set. Cook finished the game with a team high 13 kills.
The Irvine Valley College women’s volleyball team continued its preseason tear on Friday night, as the Lasers defeated the Moorpark College Raiders in three sets.
The No. 11 ranked women’s volleyball team amongst California community colleges, IVC jumped out to an early 13-9 lead in the first set. Moorpark refused to give up though, and the Raiders managed to tie the score at 20-20. IVC took back the lead though, and won the first set 25-21 after several costly errors by Moorpark. The Lasers stepped up their defense in the second set, as they powered their way to a 25-8 blowout. The third set saw Moorpark take a four point lead briefly, but IVC fought back to tie the game at 5-5. A hitting error by the Raiders gave IVC a 6-5 advantage, and consecutive kills by freshman middle blocker Haley Whyte and sophomore outside hitter Avae Masaniani led the Lasers to a 10-6 lead. Later in the set, the score was 24-19 after a kill by freshman middle blocker Alexis Ridecki, when sophomore outside hitter Lauren Bender served up her second ace of the night to give the Lasers the win.
Sophomore outside hitter Allison Cook led the team in kills on Friday with 13. Ridecki, Masaniai, and freshman outside hitter Amanda Kaae combined for 10 kills. On defense, freshman outside hitter Emily Daily and freshman defensive specialist Becky Moodie both made double digit digs, Daily with 10 and Moodie with 14. Freshman setter Danielle Boyette had 27 assists along with nine digs and two aces in the team’s victory.
After the game, Head Coach Tom Pestolesi was very impressed with his teams performance. Pestolesi said that they played pretty well, but the team needs to keep working on different aspects of their game, including their middle attack. “We have a pretty balanced team, which is what we’ve always prided ourselves on,” said Pestolesi. “We’re just trying to figure some things out, and hopefully we keep getting better. If we can get (our middle attack) going, that’ll open everything up.”
Whyte, who led the team with two blocks, said that she was proud of how the team performed, especially during their second set. “I thought we played really well the second match. I thought we played really solid as a team,” said Whyte. She also was very impressed by how the team was able to get back into the game, even after falling behind on a few plays.
Looking forward to their next game, Whyte remained confident in her team’s ability to win. “I think we will do really well if we can keep up the intensity in practices,” she said. “We are really mentally strong, and we are really physically strong too.”
IVC’s next preseason game is scheduled for Wednesday night, when the Lasers will head south to take on the San Diego Mesa College Olympians. The Olympians have also performed well this preseason, defeating Saddleback College in three sets (25-16, 25-18, 25-17) in their preseason opener. Pestolesi, however, was not worried about their next opponent, saying that they just want to control the aspects of the game that they can control. “I just worry about us,” said Pestolesi. “If we take care of business, things will work out for us.”
Danielle Boyette sets the ball early in the third set. Boyette was credited with 27 assists Friday night.
Outside hitter Avae Masaniai attempts to block Moorpark during the Lasers’ second set blow out.