SANTA ANA - The Dons opened Orange Empire Conference competition with a straight-set loss to visiting Irvine Valley College. The Lasers (4-3, 1-0) defeated the Dons (1-7, 0-1) by set scores of 25-8, 25-17 and 25-8.

The first set saw the Lasers in command from the beginning as they jumped out to a quick 17-3 lead. Madison Logan got a kill for the Dons at 17-4 before Adabella Ruiz recorded a kill at 19-5. The Dons scoring was capped off at 23-8 on a kill by Chloe Anderson before IVC won the set 25-8.

The second set found the Dons scoring the first point on a Filana Duvan kill before Irvine Valley took a 3-2 lead. Anderson had a kill to tie the set at 3-3 before the Lasers scored three-straight for a 6-3 lead. The Dons then cut the lead to 6-4 on an Anderson kill and a Logan service ace before IVC pulled away to a 13-7 lead.

Duvan, Anderson and Fernanda Ruiz went on to record a kill apiece while Alix Rodriguez scored on a service ace to keep the Dons close at 16-12 before another set of Anderson and Logan kills pulled the Dons within three at 18-15. However, the Lasers would close out the set on a 7-2 run to win it 25-17.

The third set played out very similar to the first and ended with an identical score of 25-8. The Dons did, however, put together three-straight points early to stay within three at 8-5. Those points came courtesy of a Logan kill and back-to-back service aces by Shaila Aceves.