Irvine Valley takes over #1 ranking in State Women's Volleyball Top 25

Irvine Valley is the only undefeated team left in the state at 11-0 and took over women's volleyball's #1 ranking this week.

October 8, 2019

(PASADENA) -- A shocking sequence of events in the North produced a new #1-ranked team on the the fifth 2019 CCCWVCA State Women's Volleyball Top 25 released Monday evening. Irvine Valley College jumped past season leader Feather River after the Golden Eagles went from defeating NCAA Division III UC Santa Cruz's varsity in five sets last Friday only to be upset not once, but twice the following day at the Cabrillo Classic. Feather River's 21-match win streak was stopped by host Cabrillo in five sets, then FRC was swept by Folsom Lake.

The Lasers, currently in front of the pack in the Orange Empire Conference, are the only undefeated team left at 11-0. Feather River (21-2) incredibly lost its last six sets of the Cabrillo mini tourney and is now at #2, followed by Fresno City staying at #3. The Rams (17-2) extended their state-best conference win streak, now at 117 consecutive wins in Central Valley Conference play. Grossmont (16-1) kept its placing at #4 after sweeping rival MiraCosta and upping its win streak to nine. Another PCAC team is at #5 in San Diego Mesa (14-3) as the Olympians also swept MiraCosta and climbed nine spots to reach the top 5. Mesa has won 13 of its last 14 matches.

San Joaquin Delta (12-4) moved up two slots to #6 with a sweep over Folsom Lake (11-3) while Folsom Lake rose three spots to #7 with its upset win over Feather River as well as a 4-set victory over Cabrillo. Moorpark (8-3) fell one spot to #8 as the Raiders have won seven of their last eight. Bakersfield (12-2) tops the Western State South and kept its #9 rating. Finally, Cabrillo (8-4) rallied from 2-0 down to ruin FRC's undefeated season and opened Coast Conference North Division play with its 109th consecutive conference victory, a 4-set win over Foothill.

The next 15 spots had massive movement with MiraCosta dropping six spots to #11, Sierra rising four slots to #12 as it is tied with Delta for the Big 8 lead, Chaffey moving up two to #13, Long Beach City bolting six places to #14 behind a 6-match win streak and a convincing 4-set win over Pasadena City, which dropped four spots to #15. El Camino followed at #16 as three South Coast Conference squads were ranked in a row. Santa Rosa had its 9-match win streak stopped by Delta but stayed at #17, followed by #18 Fullerton, a team that moved up four spots with a then upset 4-set victory over Cypress.

The biggest drop went to West Valley as it plummeted 14 spots with a 5-set loss to previously unranked Hartnell, then struggled in a 4-set win over San Jose City. American River settled in at #20, then Cypress falling nine spots to #21 as it was upset twice, including against unranked Golden West in 4 sets. Hartnell joined the rankings at #22, then San Mateo at #23, Solano, on a dominating streak of winning its last 30 sets, rose slightly at #24. Orange Coast fell a few spots, barely getting past Santa Ana in a 5-set battle, to tie Canyons for the final #25 position.

Matches of the Week
Feather River d. UC Santa Cruz, 19-25, 25-21, 25-23, 17-25, 16-14
Cabrillo d. Feather River, 21-25, 23-25, 26-24, 25-17, 15-13
Ventura d. Santa Barbara City, 25-20, 43-45, 25-13, 25-19 (set 2 the highest scoring set in CCCAA rally-scoring history)
San Mateo d. Las Positas, 15-25, 25-14, 25-20, 19-25, 15-11
Orange Coast d. Santa Ana, 25-23, 25-16, 17-25, 20-25, 15-10
Hartnell d. West Valley, 25-23, 24-26, 18-25, 25-21, 15-9
Rio Hondo d. East Los Angeles, 25-18, 20-25, 22-25, 25-19, 16-14
Southwestern d. Palomar, 25-20, 25-22, 18-25, 16-25, 17-15

Conference Leaders
North
Bay Valley--Solano 6-0, Los Medanos 4-0
Big 8--San Joaquin Delta, Sierra 4-0
Central Valley--Fresno City, Sequoias 5-0
Coast North--Cabrillo, San Mateo, Ohlone 1-0
Coast South--West Valley, San Francisco, Gavilan 1-0
Golden Valley--Feather River, Butte, Siskiyous 1-0
South
Inland Empire Athletic--inaugural conference play begins this week
Orange Empire--Irvine Valley 4-0, Orange Coast 4-1
Pacific Coast Athletic--Grossmont 6-0, San Diego Mesa 5-0
South Coast--El Camino, Long Beach City 4-0
Western State North--Moorpark 3-0, Ventura 2-1
Western State South--Bakersfield 4-0, 3 teams at 2-1

Release by Robert Lewis, for the CCCWVCA