City College women’s volleyball hosted Irvine Valley College in front of a rowdy home crowd Wednesday falling 3-0.

The game started slowly for both teams who took the first half of set one to read each others playing style. It took a while before the game picked up, but the crowd got into the match when a nice block by Katelynn Womack (No. 18) followed up by a clutch serve put the score at 6-5 in City College’s favor.

After a critical rally tied the set at 25, Irvine Valley pulled away taking set one from City College 28-26.

“We felt confident,” said Womack “We could have won the first set with more energy.”

The second set started in similar fashion, but the Lasers got the upper hand gaining a 12-5 lead forcing a City College timeout.

Frustration was felt on the Vaqueros bench as well as in the stands. The home crowd displayed their emotions aloud, which disappointed head coach Ed Gover.

“They can cheer all they want,” said Gover “But they can’t be rude and offensive. Irvine’s coach is a good friend of mine.”

With an 11-point deficit, the Vaqueros looked fatigued. Womack sparked what seemed to be a late rally giving life to the sweaty crowd, but the rally didn’t last long. Irvine continued on the same pace easily taking the second set 25-13, putting City College in a two set hole.

The third and final set started of with a 5-0 run for Irvine causing Gover to use up another time-out for City College. Once again the time-out didn’t prove to level Gover’s team against the enormous pressure applied by Irvine.

With a 25-11 win in the third set, Irvine swept on the road.

“Today we played one of the best teams in the state,” said Gover. “And we put up a good fight.”

But with a high level of play from Irvine’s No. 11, Annie Mitchen, the opposition proved to have the personnel to go deep into the Orange Empire Conference this season.

City College takes the court next in a double header at 10 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 20 against Golden West followed by Fullerton at Fullerton College’s Quad.

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