Shadow Ridge hands Coronado rare volleyball loss against Nevada opponent

Coronado’s girls volleyball team has been the model program over the past three seasons, winning three consecutive state titles and having the last two Gatorade Nevada Player of the Year award winners.

On Wednesday, that all seemed to be a distant memory against defending Sunset Region champion Shadow Ridge.

Senior Rachel Chambers had nine kills as the visiting Mustangs swept Coronado 25-20, 25-19, 25-20 to give the Cougars their first loss to an in-state opponent since Sept. 11, 2014.

Coronado had won 43 straight matches against Nevada opponents — the last setback coming at home to Shadow Ridge. In the dominating span, the Cougars only dropped a combined three sets to Nevada schools.

“I definitely still think they are the class of Nevada,” Shadow Ridge coach Karissa Guthrie said. “They kind of are the team we want to be. They’ve won three state tournaments in a row and that’s kind of something every program strives for. So this feels good, especially coming into their home and beating a really good team.”

Autumn Spendlove had 29 assists and seven digs, and teammate Braedyn Peters added 18 digs and three aces for the Mustangs (10-1), who lost to Bishop Manogue in the state semifinals last season.

“We did some really good things today, in terms of emphasizing the middles,” Guthrie said. “And, offensively, I think our setters did a really good job of getting Rachel a little bit more involved. That was fun to see because we’ve been working on things like that in practice.”

Shadow Ridge never trailed in the opening set and got an early boost after it grabbed a 6-1 lead. The Mustangs took the set 25-20 on a hitting error by Coronado.

In the second set, the teams traded the first eight points. But Shadow Ridge then grabbed an 18-11 lead, forcing the Cougars to call their second timeout, and eventually won on another unforced error.

Coronado showed some fight in the third set by taking a 6-1 lead. The Mustangs, though, used a 6-1 run to tie it and then took their first lead at 12-11 on an ace by Kizzy Rodriguez.

Rodriguez also had the match-winning kill after receiving a set from Spendlove.

“Wins are always nice, but we want to keep progressing,” Guthrie said. “Looking back at the film and kind of replaying things, there’s still a lot we can do. But whenever you can beat a team that’s won 43 straight in-state matches, it means something. I definitely know my girls were excited to come here and challenge them.”

Madison Karcich led Coronado with 11 kills and eight digs. Shannon Evans added 10 kills, and Megan Wang notched 18 digs for the Cougars (2-1).

“I know, as a coaching staff, there are going to be a lot of new experiences,” Coronado coach Matt Johnson said. “There’s things we can’t simulate in practice. They’re only going to experience it in the games.

“The kids played hard. There’s just a lot of learning going on that requires patience. But it also requires some urgency to get better.”