Woodbridge Turns It Around to Hold Off Laguna Beach in Volleyball

With two starters on the bench for disciplinary reasons, the Woodbridge High School volleyball team didn’t get off to a great start Monday night against Laguna Beach.

Outside hitters Nate Haugh and Krister Olsson were not in the starting lineup and Woodbridge fell behind, 13-6, in the first game.

“Both of them left practice early the other day so I sat them down,” Woodbridge Coach Rich Polk said. “I hope they learned from this.”

They learned enough to come off the bench and spark the Warriors, third-ranked in Orange County, to a 17-15, 15-9, 15-11 nonleague victory over the eighth-ranked Artists at Woodbridge.

Olsson, a 6-foot-2 junior, finished with eight kills, and Haugh, a 5-11 senior, added 10. Both entered the match when Woodbridge was struggling midway through the first game.

“They came in and played on fire,” Polk said. “They’ve both improved tremendously.”

Laguna Beach Coach Mike Soylular agreed.

“Once Woodbridge subbed in No. 1 (Olsson), the game turned around,” Soylular said.

Todd Beebe led Woodbridge (9-1) with 20 kills, and setter Ryan Rauch added seven kills and two blocks. Paul Buss had 17 kills, Chris Seale 16 and Eric Fegraus 15 for Laguna Beach (7-4).

Laguna Beach capitalized on several Woodbridge hitting errors to build leads of 11-5 and 13-6 in the first game. But Olsson and Haugh had two kills each and Beebe three as Woodbridge rallied to tie it, 15-15.

Beebe then had a kill to make it 16-15, and Rauch had an ace for the victory.

“We were fine once we got our full team on the court,” Beebe said. “We came out real slow.”

Said Soylular: “The first game set the tone for the match.”

Woodbridge fell behind, 4-0, in the third game. But Beebe (seven kills), Haugh (four kills) and middle blocker Randy Gilbert (two kills, two blocks) brought the Warriors back.

Olsson took over in the third game, pounding six kills, including two after an 11-11 tie.

Woodbridge avenged its only loss this season. Laguna Beach rallied from a two-game deficit last month for the upset.

The Warriors and the Artists are longtime rivals, having battled for the Pacific Coast League title the past few years. But Woodbridge moved to the Sea View League this season.

“It’s good to keep this rivalry,” Polk said. “It was good to pay them back for the loss.”