University girls volleyball team continues solid start with three-set PCL win over Irvine

University players celebrate after winning Tuesday’s league match. (Photo Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone)

University’s girls volleyball team captured its third victory in four outings in Pacific Coast League play, defeating Irvine Tuesday night in three sets at Irvine.

Two of the three sets were hotly contested and Irvine looked like it would force a fourth set before University (5-1 overall, 3-1 in league) regrouped and wrapped up the match.

The scores were 25-8, 27-25, 25-23.

University Coach Michael Sofley praised the effort of the Irvine team, coached by Noel Nguyen.

“That’s a young group, but they have that group playing real hard,” he said. “They got a lot of fight in them. It’s a scrappy team, they never give up. Often times, you’ll see teams go down by a couple points and start to get a little bit frustrated but they’ve got that group bought in and there is a lot to be said about that. It’s a tough group of girls and good coaches.”

University jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the third set but Irvine battled back and took an 11-9 lead on a kill by Nikki Chen. However, University regrouped to take the lead before Irvine tied it 22-22. However, the Trojans took a one-point lead on an Irvine service error before wrapping up the set and match.

“We’re trying some different lineups to try and generate some more offense,” Sofley said. “We’ve seen some of the teams we’re going to be looking forward to playing come CIF (playoffs) in our division and we need a little bit more firepower.

“We have high expectations. I have a young group and a lot of talent, we’re just trying to get them bought in, getting them disciplined and playing the right way, playing efficient.”

Sofley was pleased with the play of outside hitters Katrina Soto and Julia Campos, “who take the most swings for us.” setter Allison Rodriguez and libero Kate Biagan, who “never comes off the court” and freshman Corinne Van Haeren.

Nguyen, the Irvine coach, was impressed with how his team (3-6 overall, 0-4 in league) battled.

“The girls are working hard and it’s really showing,” the first year coach said. “The things we’ve been working on are showing up in games. So we’re proud of the performance. I’m sure they would be even happier if we found a way to squeak out some victories in game two and game three and not give up such a big lead in game one. But every day, these girls are doing all the right stuff to give us the best chance that we got.”

Nguyen said he was pleased with the play of Sierra Suttle, a setter “who is our engine for the team.”

Sophomore middle and outside hitter Anna Glebova, “one of our primary targets to score some points.” Nikki Chen and Madi Lee are two other standouts.

“We have lots of sophomores,” Nguyen said. “We only have one junior and a handful of seniors.”

Following health guidelines for indoor sports, the players were required to wear masks while playing and all the fans along with officials and coaches, had to wear masks.

—-Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com