The Lariat

Issue date: 11/14/07 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Cerise Ostrem

No. 1 state-ranked Irvine Valley has been a lot of things and average isn't one of them. Friday's sophomore night was no exception.

The ordinary setting of parents and bouquets tread into extraordinary territory as the Lasers broke not one, but two school records, moving onto a program-high 20-0 (12-0) with a 30-19, 30-13, 30-28 sweep of visiting Cypress College.

"It's exciting while, at the same time, in all honesty, I didn't really know," said assistant coach Ki Yi. "We don't talk about any of those things. We just try to take care of things day-by-day and I tell you they do a good job at just keeping their heads on."

One sophomore in particular embodied the spirit of the night. After leading her team in kills all season long, outside hitter Chelsea Pavlik now leads the school in most kills in a season, finishing the match with 18 kills to set an all-time high 394 kills.

"It's exciting," Pavlik said. "There's not a better night to do it than your last night here."

The Lasers' impressive night didn't stop with two program records. With Friday's win, IVC clinched the status of Orange Empire Conference champion.

With records broken and conference title clinched, the match itself was the only thing that was close to average Friday. The Lasers, who swept in 13 of their 19 victories, sailed to easy 30-19 and 30-13 wins in the first two games.

Slightly less indicative of their dominate style, IVC struggled at closing the Chargers out in the final game. The Lasers battled point-by-point through the first half before falling victim to a 4-0 Chargers surge that gave the 8-16 (4-8) visitors both a 16-12 lead and hope of preventing the sweep.

The Lasers saw their deficit increase to 18-13 before Pavlik took things into her own hands. After knocking down her record-breaking kill to stop the bleeding, the outside hitter hammered out seven more blows in the 13-8 run that tied the game at 26.

"When she decides to turn it on, it's pretty incredible what she can do," Yi said. "It's scary. I wouldn't want to be on the other side of the net."

Back in control, the Lasers needed no more than a Cypress hitting error, a Pavlik ace, and kill by Marilena Guadagnini to save the sweep.

"As bad as we were doing, it was kind of exciting," Pavlik said. "Close games are always more fun to me than not so close games."

Continued...

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