In the season’s most eventful game yet, Coronado Volleyball was defeated by Lewis Palmer  on Tuesday night.

In an effort to achieve a third consecutive 4A State Championship, the Lewis Palmer Rangers, headed by Susan Odenbaugh and Seniors Mariah Evans, Nicole Mack, and Emily McCurley, among others, are embarked upon a yet again, momentous season, defeating Valor Christian, Highlands Ranch and Legend (the top ranked 5A volleyball team) in three sets, pushing their record to 6-0. However, the Cougars, though defeated, stole a set on Tuesday night, in one of the biggest surprises in the 2015 season of Colorado high school volleyball.

“Lewis Palmer had everything to lose, Coronado had nothing to lose.” said Mallory Brown, 10.

The first set started with a bang for the Cougars, at one point up 6-1 over the Rangers, but after several points by the Rangers, the score was neck and neck and would remain so for the rest of the set, eventually concluding in a 25-23 win by the Lewis Palmer. The second set ended in another win by the Rangers (25-20), after several dumps by Lewis Palmer Senior Mariah Evans caught Coronado off guard. The Cougars began the third set with a vengeance, with several kills from outsides Madison Brown and Kaira Smith, eventually forcing Lewis Palmer to drop their first set of the season by 4 points (25-21). However, with feverish intensity and aided  by several communication errors by Coronado, Lewis Palmer finished the game with a 14-25 win.

Major contributors to the Cougar effort were Allie Garcia, 12, with 32 bruising digs, currently 13th overall in the state and 5th in 5A in number of digs, and contributing 22 of Coronado’s 28 kills were Juniors Madison Brown with 10 kills and Kaira Smith with 6 kills and Sophomore Mara Abernethy with 6 kills. Abernethy also contributed 6 blocks to the Cougars.

The Cougars earned a nod from CHSAA, the Colorado High School Activities Association, commending the Cougars’ defense and attacking, the headline reading “Lewis Palmer volleyball survives scare from Coronado”.  The Cougars currently rank first in Colorado Springs 5A Metro League and 17th in 5A in the state. Allie Garcia said “Being on this is a blessing. Never have I been on a team where we have it all, including defense and offense. Every position is covered and we will take our talents far this year.”

The Cougars continue their quest for league dominance at home against Liberty at 6:30 on September 29th the next day at home against Valor Christian at 6:30.