The pressure was on for the Coronado High School boys volleyball team as they took on High Tech High on May 10. Although this particular matchup had already happened in March – ending in a victory for the Islanders – this time around the match held much more weight.
For the first time since 2017, and the second time ever in the history of Coronado boys volleyball, the team made it to the CIF San Diego Section championship match.
This championship game showcased the best teams in Division 3 — and both Coronado and High Tech High came to play.
The Islanders dropped sets one and two — 22-25 and 17-25, respectively — but both games went point-for-point.
It was after the second set in a best-out-of-five match, that head coach George Cavaco told captain Greyson Glorieux and his teammates what needed to happen next.
“Coming into the next set, George told us to think about it like those sets were over,” Glorieux said. “We were able to start fresh with higher energy than when we started.”
The team found momentum, and according to Cavaco, showed a lot of heart.
Setters Matt Slentz and Quinten Sylvester repeatedly fed the ball to Glorieux, a middle hitter, and Nicholas Redding, an opposite hitter with a signature left handed attack that snuck inside the other team’s block.
High Tech came back at the tail end of the third game to tie up the score at 21-21, but Coronado edged ahead, finishing the set 25-22, with a game point attack from Glorieux.
“You need to find the balance of being aggressive and while still being conservative,” Glorieux said of his mentality for offense. “There’s obviously opportunities when you need to be on the aggressive, and I just felt like that one was an opportunity.”
The fourth set did not hold the same momentum for Coronado, and High Tech came back to claim the championship title, putting the Islanders in second place.
“Is it not successful because we didn’t win a championship?” Cavaco asked rhetorically after the match’s finish.
“From where these kids started from in November until now, [there’s] a huge difference, a huge improvement,” he said, answering his own question. “…It is still a success.”
