In their second match of the season against Pine Creek the Cougars took their second loss to them and their fifth loss of the season in a three set sweep. The Cougars struggled to get on a roll with strong outsides Avery Nelson and Lindsey Jin on the other side of the net, each with upwards of 10 kills. To keep up with the Eagles, Coronado needed to keep errors low, but unfortunately that is not how the game developed. The Cougars finished the match with 16 passing errors and 12 attacking errors, giving Pine Creek the few extra points they needed to close each tight set.

The cornerstones of the Coronado defense, Bethany Heitland and Ashlynn Garcia, both put up strong performances during the match, Heitland, 11, with varsity best of 4 aces as well as 11 digs for the team. Garcia rounded up 20 digs of her own in a stellar performance.

On the offensive side Delaney St. Pierre,11, had 4 blocks, 22 assists, and three kills of her own. And leading the team in kills were Mara Abernethy and Jaelyn Hershberger, both juniors, with a respectable 10 and 8 kills apiece. Blocks were abnormally prevalent during the match, and St. Pierre and Abernethy did the bulk of it for the Cougars, with 7 combined.

As Garcia looked back on the game,“We went into the game with a lot of confidence but some things didn’t go our way in terms of reffing and we didn’t play as well as we hoped, but we are looking forward to our last game.”

Getting ready for their last regular season game of the season and last tournament before regionals the Cougars are setting their sights on tieing for winning Colorado Springs Metro League with a win against Rampart. As the Cougars look towards the offseason, they are in good position to host a regional, given their #10 rankings in 5A by CHSAA, but know they have to perform well in the upcoming matches if they want to maintain their rankings.

“We’ve made a couple changes between the Pine Creek game and now, and we can’t wait to work our hardest and see how the Rampart game shakes out. We are staying focused on each individual game and hope for a good position going into the offseason,” said junior Mara Abernethy.
Come support the Cougars in the final league and regular season match of the season away at Rampart on Tuesday at 6 P.M.!