GVB: Owls battle back, beat St. Bonaventure in 5

A key ingredient was missing for Laguna Blanca in its non-league girls volleyball match against St. Bonaventure on Thursday.

Fun.

“The girls were really down,” Laguna Blanca coach Jim Alzina said “Between games two and three I told them, ‘It’s time to have fun. If it’s not fun, let’s go home.’ They tuned their emotions around.”

The Owls fought back from a 2-0 deficit and defeated the Seraphs 21-25, 18-25, 25-12, 25-19, 19-17.

“It was the most exciting match I’ve been a part of at Laguna,” said Alzina.

Phoebe Madsen had a huge match for the Owls (10-2) with 24 kills and 20 digs.

“Phoebe had the match of her life,” Alzina said.

Grace Woolf put away 16 kills and Hannah White and Chloe Richman each picked up 10 digs. Clara Madsen was a workhorse at setter, dishing out 59 assists.

The Owls fell behind 5-1 in the fifth set, but Alzina reminded them that they were in familiar territory.

“We’ve done this five other times this year,” he said of coming back from a deficit in a fifth set. “I told the girls, ‘We should be in our comfort zone.’ I told them to come out and do what you know how to do.

“They played with a lot of passion. That was big for the girls,” he said.

The Owls chipped away at the deficit and pulled even at 9-9 thanks to the tough serving of White. The lead went back and forth for the rest of the set. Phoebe Madsen finished the match with a spike between the St. Bonaventure block.