State Volleyball Playoffs : Unbeaten Irvine Wins, Advances to Semifinals

Irvine High School defeated North High School of Bakersfield, 15-7, 15-11, 15-10, in the quarterfinals of the state girls’ volleyball championships Saturday night at Irvine High.

The No. 1-seeded Vaqueros didn’t exactly control the match, but they never fell behind and were tied only once--at 9-9 in the third game. Then, senior Sara Lockemy blocked North’s serve, Irvine scored the next 6 points and that was about as close as the North Stars came to beating Irvine (20-0).

“We led the whole game, but I didn’t think we dominated them,” Irvine Coach Mark McKenzie said. “We didn’t block well and (North) did a good job with their middle hitters.”

North’s Tricia Owens, Jill Roxroth and JoEllen Jeffrey combined for 15 kills; Irvine’s Bev Oden led all players with 22 kills and 4 blocks.

“It’s important for us for (Oden) to do well, and she always does well,” McKenzie said.

Oden had a good night and the Vaqueros didn’t lose a game, but McKenzie was disappointed with his team’s intensity.

“We played a little bit flat,” he said. “We only had runs of 3, 4 or 5 points. Big runs need inspiration and errors on the part of the other team. We didn’t have either.”

Irvine received 10 kills from co-captain Melinda Norton and 5 aces from junior Jenny Fu, but had only a handful of successful blocks.

Irvine advances to the state semifinals, set for Irvine High on Tuesday. The finals will be held Saturday at Cal State Fullerton.