Volleyball:

No. 3 seed Coronado moves to region semis

Heather Cory

Coronado’s Mikayla Delobel dives for the ball during the Sunrise Region girls’ volleyball tournament against Eldorado on Monday at Eldorado High School. Coronado won the match to advance to the semifinals.

By Brent Hinckley (contact)

Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2008 | midnight

Heather Cory

Coronado's Kuulei Piena blocks the ball in a quarterfinal match against Eldorado during the Sunrise Region girls' volleyball tournament on Monday at Eldorado High School. Coronado won in straight games to advance to the semifinals.

Heather Cory

Head Coach Brock Mitchell talks to the Coronado girls' volleyball team during a time out in the Sunrise Region girls' volleyball tournament against Eldorado on Monday. Coronado won to advance to the semifinals.

For most teams, a rebuilding year means a lot of tough games and losses.

For Coronado's girls' volleyball program, a rebuilding year means reaching the Sunrise Regional semifinals as the No. 3 seed.

"I'm proud of where we've got," Coronado coach Brock Mitchell said. "I felt we could get here if we put in the work. The girls showed they were one of the top four teams and deserve to be in the semis."

The Cougars will face top-seed Green Valley High Thursday in the semifinals at Centennial.

"Green Valley's a great team and we're going to have to play our best," Mitchell said.

Coronado started the season with a lot of question marks. The Cougars reached the state semifinals last year, but lost a number of key players, including Southeast Division MVP setter Sam McCosh.

Sophomore setter Katie Gamesky had the task to replace McCosh. In her first postseason game Monday, she had three kills, two service aces and 27 assists to lead Coronado to a 25-14, 25-12, 25-18 win at Eldorado on Nov. 3 in the regional quarterfinals. Green Valley won its quarterfinal match 3-0 against Las Vegas High.

"This was a huge boost for us," Gamesky said. "We know we're a young team and we've had our ups and downs. It's good to know we can compete with better teams and hold our own."

The Cougars struggled to start the match, trading points with the Sundevils, the Northeast Division's No. 2 team. Mitchell called an early timeout to help calm some nerves on the team.

"I just told them to relax that it was just another game," Mitchell said.

His move worked out as Coronado pulled away to a 25-14 win in the first game and kept the momentum going through a 25-12 win in the second.

Eldorado fought to keep its season alive in the third game, but with the score tied at 15, the Cougars went on a 10-3 run to seal the victory.

"We really played as a team. Our energy was up as was our intensity," Gamesky said. "Now, we'll just practice hard and go strong in the semis."

Freshman hitters Kristen Herloskey and Kuulai Piena each had eight kills to lead the Cougars offense. Piena also had two blocks and four service aces.

Silverado defeated Valley 25-11, 25-9, 25-14 to reach the region's other semifinal against Del Sol.

Brent Hinckley can be reached at 990-7822 or brent.hinckley@hbcpub.com.