Avalon Haro, junior libero on the Coronado High School volleyball team, was inspired by her mom, who was a professional beach volleyball player within the Association of Volleyball Professionals, to pick up the sport when she was in seventh grade. Immediately, Haro was all in.
“I kind of just fell in love with it,” said Haro. “I loved the competition, I loved competing, I was playing with a lot of my best friends at the time, so it just made me fall in love with the sport even more.”
While she plays beach volleyball just like her mom – and is on Coronado’s varsity team – it was the libero position that drew her into indoor volleyball, now her main sport.
Three-year varsity athlete
The junior has been the libero for the varsity volleyball team for all three years of her high school career. Haro credits her time as a freshman on the varsity squad to her comfortability on the court as an upperclassmen, saying it challenged her leadership skills from the start.
As the starting libero for the Islanders, she leans on that skill to lead the defense.
“Her court presence is very grand,” said head coach Adeile Ahmu. “She has continued to provide a great sense of court awareness, relentless defense and tough serving to put other teams out of system.”
The Islanders stand at a 16-3 record as of Sept. 13, roughly halfway into the season. Haro said this season has been her favorite one playing with the Islanders.
“We’ve been doing really well this year, and we’re all working together really well,” said Haro. “We have two new great freshmen, Ashlyn [Proctor] and Emily [Albin], and they really are key aspects to our team. This group in particular just meshes really well.”
An aggressive defender
While Haro is quick to praise her teammates’ contributions, senior captain Sadie Proctor said it isn’t out of Haro’s character to brush off her own.
“She’s supportive of her teammates and I always see her just trying to do what’s best for the team,” said Proctor. “But we wouldn’t be anything without her – she’s kind of like a rock for us. She does her job and she does even more than what’s expected of her. You see her on the court and you’re like, ‘Woah, she’s diving after everything, making these amazing plays,’ and then acting like ‘Oh, that’s cool I did that.’ Like no, it’s a big deal, that play was amazing.”
Proctor attributes Haro’s high “volleyball IQ” as a big grounding force for the back row, providing consistency and guidance, especially for the newer players to the team. As her teammate for the past three years, Proctor has seen a shift in the way Haro carries herself on the court.
“She wants every single ball coming to her because she knows she can do a good job with it.” – Sadie Proctor, senior varsity captain.
If someone’s struggling on serve receive, she believes in herself where she can shift over and take the ball for them,” said Proctor. “When she was a freshman, she was definitely not anywhere as aggressive on the court or confident in herself as she is now. Now, she wants every single ball coming to her because she knows she can do a good job with it.”
Ahmu noticed Haro’s defensive skills especially being showcased during their WestView Classic tournament on Aug. 16-17, where the team took home second place, and the Sweetwater tournament from Aug. 30-31 where Haro was awarded All-Tournament Player for her defense and passing.
“She’s not afraid of the big hitters,” said Ahmu. “She’s aggressive and an accurate passer in serve receive and defense.”
With a large part of the season left ahead, Haro has set her eyes on taking home the league title within the Division 2 Eastern CIF division. As for the rest of her volleyball career, Haro’s goal is to play Division 1 collegiate volleyball and is already in the process of talking with coaches.
