Irvine Valley surprises No. 3 Vaqueros in Regional opener, 3-2

Taira Ka'awaloa and Juju Cannon combined for 33 kills on Tuesday night, leading No. 14 Irvine Valley to a 3-2 women's volleyball upset of No. 3 SBCC in the first round of the Southern Cal Regional at the Sports Pavilion.

The scores were 25-20, 20-25, 24-26, 25-21, 15-12 in the 2 hour, 23-minute marathon.

The Lasers, the fourth-place team from the Orange Empire Conference, won their fourth straight to improve to 15-6 while the WSC North champion Vaqueros had their 11-match win streak snapped and finished the year at 23-4.

It was the first home loss in nine matches for the Vaqueros this season.

Ka'awaloa had 17 kills and Cannon pounded 16, including the final blow when she ripped an overpass for a kill on match point. SBCC thought she netted on the play but the officials didn't concur.

Shannon Friend led the Vaqueros with 18 kills and a .425 hitting percentage. Carolyn Andrulis had 14 kills and a season-high 26 digs. Claire Bagdasar had 26 digs and setter Kiana Pisula had seven kills, 44 assists and 21 digs. Kaylene Ureno added eight kills and a season-best 25 digs.

Hillary Bean added 19 digs, giving the Vaqueros five players between 19 and 26 digs. They dug 127 balls in the match.

"We had four freshmen on the court and maybe it was a little bit of nerves," said coach Ed Gover. "This is the first playoff game they've ever been in. It came down to passing and they passed better than we did.

"We attacked, we hung in there and we didn't quit. We felt their player netted on that last play and if that had been called, it would have given us life.

"We had our chances to push ahead and we just didn't capitalize on it. We got through a tough rotation at 5-5 (in the fifth set) and we had Shannon matched up against a weaker blocker. Our passing just didn't hold up and that's the bottom line."

There were five ties in the early stages of the fifth and deciding set, then Alissa Blevins went on a 6-0 serving run for the Lasers. Blevins started it with an ace and Kylie Miller re-directed an overpass to the front left corner to give the visitors an 11-5 advantage.

SBCC rallied back and got within 11-9 on Cantrell's second straight ace serve. The Vaqueros cut it to one at 13-12 when Ureno drilled a kill to the back line. Lucee Fitzgerald hit one off the block for the 14th point and Cannon ended it by slamming the overpass of a Savanah Schroeder serve.

The Lasers led for most of the first set, building leads of 14-10 and 20-14. The Vaqueros went on a 9-3 run in Set 2 and took a 17-11 advantage on a kill by Pisula after a spectacular dig by Bagdasar. Andrulis capped the 25-20 win with a kill through the block.

The third set was tight throughout with the Vaqueros taking a 20-17 lead on a wide hit by the Lasers. SBCC got to set point at 24-20 on a quick hit by Hannah Cantrell but the Lasers fought off three set points to tie it at 24. Cantrell tooled a ball off the block and IVC drilled a long spike to give the Vaqueros the 26-24 win and a 2-1 match lead.

After hitting a season-best .528 in last Wednesday's 3-0 win over Hancock, the Vaquero were held to a .158 percentage on Tuesday night, their third-lowest of the year.

IVC broke open a tight fourth set with an 8-1 run that gave the Lasers an 18-13 lead. The Vaqueros got within two (19-17) on a solo block by Pisula but Irvine responded with a kill by Miller, an ace from Adrienne Graycochea and a kill by Diamonique Brogan to regain the upper hand at 22-17.

"It was a great season, it just stings right now," said Gover, who picked up his 350th coaching win in the regular-season finale vs. Hancock. "We went 23-4 and that's a pretty good year. Irvine Valley should not have been a 14 seed. Our criteria didn't allow that team to be seeded higher.

"They were fourth in their conference but they just beat (No. 6) Mira Costa which should have bumped them up to the 8 or 9 seed. Instead, they put them at 14 and we ended up with a team that's pretty hot."