IVC Claims Men's Volleyball Conference Title

The Irvine Valley men's volleyball team lost to Orange Coast twice in four-set matches during the regular Orange Empire Conference season.

OCC, being undefeated, was the favorite going into the Orange Empire Conference Tournament.

But Irvine Valley was ready this time around.

And the Lasers, after sweeping Fullerton in the semifinals, came out on top against Orange Coast at OCC in the tournament final on Wednesday.

Irvine Valley won, 26-24, 25-17, 22-15, 25-17.

It was the first conference title for third-year Irvine Valley coach Ryan Windisch, who helped lead IVC to the state championship final in his first year as head coach in 2019. IVC fell to Long Beach City in the championship match that year.

"Everyone, in sports knows how tough it is to beat a good team three times," Windisch said of going up against Orange Coast once again. "Knowing this, we did not need to make any crazy adjustments. We just trusted our training for the year. I remember saying before the match that we need everyone to give an extra 10% in everything that they do tonight."

And it paid off for the Lasers.

Irvine Valley received big matches from freshman outside hitters JT Demure and Colin Chillingworth, freshman middle blocker Trevor Weinert, freshman opposite Julio Gutierrez, freshmen setters Andrew Perez and Gene Kim and, especially freshman libero Adam Schulte.

Demure finished with 12 kills and four digs and hit .360 or the Lasers. Chillingworth added 10 kills, Weinert had nine kills, four digs and three blocks and hit a season-high .727 and Gutierrez ended with six kills and three blocks.

Perez started at setter and finished with 28 assists and four digs for IVC, but Kim, who had been out all year with an injury, was able to play and contributed six assists.

Schulte was the player of the night for the Lasers, scrambling all over the floor and ending with a season-high 18 digs.