Bobcats stun Lasers in five

The Saddleback women's volleyball team pulled off its biggest win of the season with a 3-2 victory over inter-district rival Irvine Valley College on Friday night inside the Saddleback gymnasium.  It was the first win over IVC since 2016.

Saddleback knew it had its work cut out heading into the match.  The Lasers are a perennial power that has won two of the past six state titles.  The Bobcats were up to the task, pulling off a 25-22, 12-25, 25-18, 14-25, 15-11 stunner.

Saddleback and Irvine Valley battled back and forth all evening.  Saddleback made a late surge in the opening set to take a 1-0 lead.  Irvine Valley bounced back with a dominating performance in game two.  Saddleback again answered the bell, going on a streak and winning comfortably in set three.  IVC again answered the call, cruising to a win in set four.

The final set was filled with more streaks.  Irvine Valley jumped out to a 3-0 lead and looked like they were going to run and hide.  Saddleback bounced back with four points of their own to grab back the lead.  Late in the set, IVC led 11-10 in what looked destined to be a tight battle until the end.  The Bobcats proceeded to score the next five points to secure the win, thus ending a five-year drought for Saddleback against their district rivals.

Saddleback is now 13-8 overall and 8-7 in Orange Empire Conference play.  It was the third straight win for the Bobcats with only one game remaining on the schedule.  Saddleback will host Orange Coast College on Wednesday at 3:00 PM inside the gymnasium to finish the regular season. 

Saddleback is currently 17^th in the southern half of the state in the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI).  With 18 programs qualifying for the playoffs, the Bobcats clearly can make a case for a playoff berth.

Saddleback is currently in sixth place in the Orange Empire Conference, a half game back of Golden West and 1.5 games back of Fullerton in the standings.