Region championship or bust for Coronado

Mike Sims

Tuesday, March 15, 2005 | 9:35 a.m.

As the Coronado boys' volleyball team practices for the upcoming season, a bad memory still sits in the players' minds. The Cougars remember the crushing defeat they suffered in last year's state tournament to eventual champion Sierra Vista.

"Our goal is to return to the state tournament," Coronado coach Jay Rennecker said. "It would be a disappointment if we were not the regional champion and in the state tournament."

Coronado swept through the Sunrise regional tournament before getting beat in the final by rival Chaparral.

"We return six players from last season. Our only loss was Ben Keller," Rennecker said. "We need to work really hard to make it back to the state tournament."

Rennecker said that the Sunrise Region's Basic and Las Vegas High figure to be his team's stiffest competition.

"Las Vegas and Basic will have pretty good teams," Rennecker said. "It will be interesting to see how Chaparral does because they lost their coach."

The Cowboys were the other Sunrise team to make it into last year's state tournament but the loss of a coach could hurt them in the upcoming season.

New Chaparral coach Ray Nicolas has a different perspective on the subject.

"We only return two starters, but we have a strong junior varsity program here, and those players will help us out this season," Nicolas said. "I still think we are one of the top four teams in the region."

The Cowboys believe they have what it takes to make it back to the state tournament but do not want to look that far ahead.

"We want to make it back to the zone tournament," Nicolas said.

Nicolas agreed with Rennecker on Las Vegas being one of the toughest teams in the Sunrise Region.

As for Wildcats head coach Sue Thurman, she is optimistic about the upcoming season for Las Vegas.

"We return five seniors, but we are going to have to work hard," Thurman said. "We have very high expectations."