Coronado sweeps Silverado, locks up Sunrise League title

Coronado’s girls volleyball team still hasn’t dropped a set to a Sunrise League opponent this season.

With a league title at stake Tuesday night, the Cougars overcame a raucous senior night crowd at Silverado to capture its fifth league title in six years.

“I tried to block all that out,” Coronado libero Megan Wang said. “Whenever we play, it’s just me and my teammates.”

Led by Wang’s game-high 17 digs, the Cougars rolled to a 25-23, 25-22, 25-16 sweep of Silverado in a matchup of unbeaten Sunrise League teams.

“It was a great experience, honestly,” Wang said. “I think we came together and played our best for this game, and that definitely showed on the court.”

With the “Sil-ve-ra-do” chants echoing throughout the gym, the Cougars (23-9, 9-0) relied on their defense to beat the team that ended their season in the Sunrise Region semifinals last season.

In the first set, with the score tied at 23, Coronado took advantage of a service and hitting error to grab the first game and set the tone.

Cougars coach Matt Johnson credited his team’s floor defense and big block for limiting Silverado’s Sydney Berenyi — the reigning Gatorade Player of the Year — to 15 kills and keeping balls alive.

Wang played the lead role Tuesday.

“Megan Wang played great,” Johnson said. “I told her after the match she probably missed one dig early on in game one. After that, she was pretty much perfect. She didn’t miss anything.”

Tied at 17 in the second set, Coronado used a 8-5 run to pull away and won on a kill by Morenike Ajayi.

In the third set, the Cougars built a 22-9 lead and never looked back.

“I love this team,” Johnson said. “They have a great energy. They’re young. So they challenge me as a coach to help them to grow and progress. And the seniors are great leaders. We have four great seniors that all contribute and lead.

“We just hope we can keep this energy going forward.”

Madison Karcich and Sasha Bolla each had eight kills. Karcich also had 12 digs, and Cassandra Smits-Van Oyen had 15 assists for the Cougars.

Berenyi also had 10 digs, Catherine Coty had six kills and five digs, and Kui’Puha Untalan notched 10 digs for the Skyhawks (21-14, 9-1).

Contact reporter Ashton Ferguson at aferguson@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0430. Follow @af_ferguson on Twitter.