Chaparral VB makes short work of Corona del Sol

October 3, 2012 by Les Willsey, AZPreps365


Beating a playoff-caliber team in a seeding (regular-season match). That's the only thing Corona del Sol and Chaparral's volleyball teams had not done this season prior to Wednesday night. The winner Wednesday night -- Chaparral. But not in a lengthy match as expected.

Winning sets in just about every way, Chaparral stayed steady and pulled off a surprising three-set sweep of Corona del Sol by scores of 25-19, 25-20 and 25-21 in a Division I match at Corona's Sammy Duane Gymnasium.

Chaparral improved to 8-3 in seeding matches for the year and notched its second win in as many days this week. Chaparral was 19th in the latest D-I seedings released Tuesday. Its other losses this season have come against Horizon (twice), Xavier (twice) Desert Vista and Sunnyslope. Corona del Sol dropped to 8-4 in seeding matches. The Aztecs entered the week 15th in D-I seeding.

"I didn't expect this to be three games," Chaparral coach Kolette Hysong said. "We expected to have to play hard, and play a very tough match. I think we caught them off guard or got them on an off night."

The opening set was a one or two point difference most of the way. A couple of aces from Chaparral sophomore Madalyn Roh put Chaparral in front, 20-16 and prompted Corona's final timeout of the set. Corona's inconsistency on the night bit them in the final points as Chaparral won going away.

Set two picked up where set one left off. Chaparral tallied eight consecutive points, bolting to a 15-5 lead. Corona's senior middle Caroline Trent spearheaded a rally that brought the Aztecs back to within 15-13. Chaparral rebounded and played better down the stretch for a 2-0 lead.

Even though Corona came out strong in the third set -- leading 14-9 and never trailing until Chaparral pulled in front 16-15 -- the Aztecs weren't strong again to the finish. Corona had two service errors trailing 17-16 and 20-19. Four Chaparral players had kills to complete the sweep -- Abby Brewer, Lauren Rimsza, Lauren Stivrins and Roh.

"It's been a team effort for us all year and again tonight," Hysong said. "It starts with Jenna Bielek our libero. When she's on, our whole team is on."

Roh led Chaparral with 13 kills and six aces. Maya Frohna added 12 kills, Rimsza 7 kills and Stivrins 6. Trent led Corona with six kills and three blocks and teammate Olivia Ortiz had 10 digs. 

Corona del Sol coach Ben Maxfield, who like Hysong has watched his team lose only to top-tier teams like Hamilton, Mountain Pointe and Desert Vista, was confounded by this team's play.

"Our worst match of the year by far," Maxfield said. "Chaparral's a good team. If you play like we did this is what happens. We didn't play with any energy, any heart and didn't make any adjustments."