Coronado avenges loss to Liberty in girls volleyball — PHOTOS

Coronado, after losing the Class 5A title game last year to Bishop Gorman, has had a hot start to the 2024 season.

The Cougars only lost twice in their first 11 matches, with one of those losses coming to nearby Liberty. Coronado avenged that loss Monday by sweeping the Patriots 25-18, 25-17, 25-18 on the road.

“We were coming off a tournament last time and I think we were in a better mental state tonight,” Cougars coach Melody Nua said.

Coronado (10-2) showed it was ready to play from the jump Monday. It raced out to an early 6-1 lead in the first set and got the whole team involved in the opening frame.

Juniors Gentry Oblad, Rachel Purser and Julie Beckham, a UNLV commit, led the Cougars with three kills each in the first set. Junior Hannah Wayment had two.

Liberty (11-6) looked more competitive in the second set. The Patriots began the frame with a 4-0 run and at one point had a 16-12 lead.

Then Beckham and senior Rachel Schwartz started connecting. Beckham’s kills and Schwartz’s assists helped Coronado finish the second set on a 13-2 run.

The Cougars pulled away again in the third set after the two teams split the first 12 points. Beckham and Schwartz were the driving forces again, as the former finished with 18 kills and the latter ended with 26 assists.

Coronado will look to build off its strong showing its last six matches of the regular season.

“We’re going to go right back to work. We’re going to train as hard as we possibly can and get ready for the next matches,” Nua said.

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