SUNRISE REGION: Makanoa comes of age, helps Coronado take championship
Since his freshman year, Jahren Makanoa has felt like “the youngest guy on the court” for Coronado’s boys volleyball team.
The senior outside hitter was a veteran leader Friday.
Makanoa had 10 kills, 12 digs and three aces to help the Cougars to a 25-17, 25-16, 25-18 sweep of rival Silverado in the championship match of the Sunrise Region tournament at Las Vegas High.
The 6-foot Makanoa set the tone early, driving home five kills and four digs in the first game.
“When I started my freshman year, I knew I needed to be a vocal leader,” Makanoa said. “(This year) Chris (Andrulis) is our MVP, but we know that you need to have more than one hitter. So I practice like it’s playoffs. That third set, I said, 'Hey, feed me the ball; I can take us.’ And we knew Chris could take us, too. (Setter Byrin Romney) gave me the ball, I did my job, Chris did his, and the rest of the team did theirs.”
Andrulis led Coronado (18-3) with 16 kills, 14 digs, two blocks and two aces — including the match-clinching kill. Romney dished out 29 assists.
“It was a huge accomplishment,” Makanoa said. “Last year, getting swept by Las Vegas in regionals was very upsetting; it was the first huge loss for us.
“We come into this gym (at Las Vegas), and we see they have our regional banner. We had to take it back and put it into our house. And now that we can see it, we just want to get our rings.”
The Cougars will face Sunset Region runner-up Shadow Ridge in the Class 4A state semifinals at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Las Vegas. The Skyhawks (18-3) will meet Sunset champ Bonanza in the other semifinal at 5 p.m. Tuesday.
“We figured by winning the region title, we would be pretty hot going into the state tournament,” Coronado coach Matt Johnson said. “Last year, we had a really good team and kind of limped into it to where we only had one good match at state.”
The Cougars lost in five games to Shadow Ridge in last year’s title match but have been motivated to get back.
“My concern was the ghosts of the past,” Johnson said. “But these guys got that monkey off their back, dumping it a long time ago. This is a brand new team, brand new year, and they kept their mind in the presence and didn’t dwell on what happens in the past.
Kyle Divicino led Silverado with 12 kills and 10 digs. Brian Theophil added five kills and 10 digs for the Skyhawks, who got 23 assists from Indigo Varela and 12 digs from Vincent Gomez.
