IVC outlasts Orange Coast in five

Bryce Alderton

Fitting the match to decide whether Orange Coast College or Irvine

Valley would advance to the final four of the state women’s

volleyball playoffs came down to the maximum five games.

The two Orange Empire Conference rivals had dueled in matches of

three and four games earlier this year with the Pirates winning both.

But Coast wasn’t as fortunate Tuesday night, as IVC posted a 30-24,

25-30, 30-28, 25-30, 15-12 win in the Southern California regional

final.

“I knew we couldn’t play any worse than we did [in a three-game

loss to OCC Oct. 31],” said IVC Coach Tom Pestolesi, who formerly

guided teams at Estancia High and Newport Harbor. “I think the last

time, we wanted to beat [OCC] so bad that we forgot how to play

volleyball.”

That was hardly the case Tuesday as the Lasers (18-4) had four

players in double figures for kills, led by freshman middle blocker

Katie Martinez (17). Freshman outside hitter Audrey Sipkovich slammed

15 kills while Kim Mattis and Stephani Clark each tallied 12.

Sophomore outside hitter Christine Woller (Newport Harbor)

finished with 27 kills, 18 digs and five blocks for Coast (19-3),

ranked No. 2 in the state for most of the season, while Donka Drozd

amassed 14 kills and three blocks to go with 13 kills and three

blocks from Brenda Bailey.

OCC led, 21-16, in the pivotal third game before IVC claimed 14 of

the game’s final 21 points to take a one-game edge. Six service

points by Mattis gave the Lasers a 28-21 lead. Martinez provided two

stuff blocks and two kills in that span.

“I thought we should have won [Game 3],” OCC Coach Chuck Cutenese

said. “They outhustled us, ran down more balls and were more

consistent.”

Coast used a 13-5 run to go up for good in the fourth game, 18-16,

getting a kill from Bailey on one of sophomore setter Amber

McCarthy’s 58 assists to send the match to a fifth game.

Chontel Palomino and Bailey combined for a block to give Coast an

8-7 lead in Game 5 , but IVC scored six of the next seven pointsto

take a 13-8 lead. Sipkovich clinched the match with a kill on one of

60 assists from Katie King, a Newport Harbor product.