Irvine Valley tried its best to earn a second straight win against district rival Saddleback in an Orange Empire Conference match on the road Wednesday.
The Lasers defeated the Bobcats in five sets (15-11) on Oct. 10.
IVC was trying to move up to have a chance with Saddleback in the OEC standings, but came up short, 25-17, 27-29, 25-21, 21-25, 15-9.
Irvine Valley's record went to 10-10 overall and 10-5 in conference. IVC sits in fourth place in the OEC.
Saddleback remained in third at 16-5 overall and 12-3 in conference.
IVC finishes the regular season on Friday with a conference match at Fullerton at 6 p.m.
Saddleback and Irvine Valley were close all night, as neither was able to run away with any of the sets.
The Bobcats opened with a 25-17 win in the opening set before the Lasers outlasted the Bobcats in a grueling second set, 29-27.
Saddleback took a 2-1 lead with a 25-21 win in set three before the Lasers returned the favor in set four, 25-21.
The match came down to a fifth set and Irvine Valley jumped out to a 5-4 lead before Saddleback ripped off six straight points to take a 10-5 lead.
The Bobcats ended up taking a 15-9 victory to pick up the win.
Irvine Valley was paced by sophomore outside hitter Alya Mersin with 21 kills and 17 digs on the night.
Freshman outside hitter Emma Mendel added 16 kills and freshman middle blocker contributed nine kills and five blocks.
Freshman setter Tori Esko finished with 25 assists and six digs and freshman outside hitter/setter Dalilah Rivero had seven kills, 23 assists and 10 digs for the Lasers.
Sophomore libero Emmi Scelzo had 18 digs and Liliana Alvarez chipped in 13 digs for IVC.
