After winning the first two sets at Riverside in an Orange Empire Conference match, the Irvine Valley women's volleyball team looked to be in complete control.
But it ended up being a long night and match for the Lasers.
Irvine Valley pulled out the win, but it took a while.
IVC and Riverside went five sets with the Lasers finally winning, 25-23, 25-18, 25-27, 23-25, 15-13.
It was Irvine Valley's second straight victory and improved its record to 2-5 overall and 2-0 in conference play.
Riverside went to 3-11 overall and 1-2 in the OEC.
Irvine Valley nearly recorded the sweep.
The Lasers took a 24-23 lead in the third set and were one point away, but the Tigers battled back with three straight points to earn the set.
IVC also led, 22-19, in the fourth set, but Riverside rallied with six of the next seven points to push the match to set five.
The Lasers tried to put the fifth set away early, taking a 11-5 lead, but the Tigers called a timeout to regroup and then pulled within one at 13-12 before IVC called a timeout.
The Lasers scored the first point coming out of the break and held on for a 15-13 victory to take the match.
IVC ended up hitting .300 as a team in the fifth and final set.
On the night, freshman outside hitter Emma Mendel ended with 17 kills, 10 digs and four aces, sophomore outside hitter Alya Mersin added 16 kills and nine digs and freshman setter Dalilah Rivero had five kills, nine digs, 30 assist and two aces.
Freshman middle blocker Jazlynn Fu chipped in six kills and four blocks and sophomore defensive specialist Emmi Scelzo contributed 18 digs.
Jayden Franchere led RCC with 13 kills, while Savannah Smith had 10 kills and Riley Rush dished out 25 assists and seven aces.
Irvine Valley hosts Orange Coast on Friday at 6 p.m.
