VOLLEYBALL: Bonanza rallies from 0-2 deficit to knock off Sierra Vista

Bonanza senior volleyball player Taryn Warner wasn’t exactly pleased with her team’s loss to Sierra Vista in the Boulder City Invitational championship on Saturday.

So she turned to the team group chat, where she spent the last few days airing her frustrations in advance of Tuesday’s rematch.

“We wanted revenge,” Warner said. “There was a lot of added motivation. We wanted to get back at them.”

Mission successful.

The Bengals avenged Saturday’s loss with a thrilling 12-25, 20-25, 25-21, 30-28, 15-11 home victory over the Mountain Lions.

Bonanza players erupted with joy and celebrated match point with their enthusiastic student section, which stood for nearly the entirety of the 100-minute match and cheered the Bengals (11-10, 3-0 Southwest League) with several choreographed chants.

Mountain Lions players, meanwhile, quickly packed their bags and departed for the team bus.

“You have to finish,” Mountain Lions coach Camille McComas said. “You’ve got to go with your strengths and take care of a team when they’re down. We didn’t take care of them. We gave them some room.”

A little too much room after taking a two-set lead.

Sierra Vista (16-7, 1-2) breezed to a 25-12 victory in the first set, and although Bonanza provided a little more resistance in the second, the Mountain Lions built a comfortable 2-0 lead.

But something changed in the third set.

“We came in the huddle … and we’re like ‘Guys, we have to pick it up right here,’” Warner said. “We had a game like this last year, where we lost the first two sets. We were like ‘Let’s do it again.’”

Bengals coach Elizabeth Rice said she urged her players to serve better and they responded by building an early lead and pressuring Sierra Vista, which suddenly was out of position and struggled to piece together strong returns.

“Our first two sets, we were giving them lollipop serves,” Rice said. “Set three, you have nothing to lose right now. You have to serve tougher and disrupt their offense … I think they finally figured that out.”

Bonanza pulled even after a wild fourth set in which the Bengals staved off three match points before winning 30-28, and that’s when McComas said she started to sense a shift in momentum.

“It’s a learning lesson about finishing up your match,” she said.

The Bengals cruised in the fifth set after a slow start.

Warner finished with 16 kills and seven blocks. Sydney Dunn had 32 assists, and Alexa Rodriguez had 12 kills and 17 digs for the Bengals.

Faith Gray-Williams had 43 assists for Sierra Vista, and teammate Shantalle Demirjian had 25 kills.

“We’ve got the momentum,” Rice said. “We’ve got tough games coming up … but we’ve got the momentum on our side and we’re looking forward to it.”