The Coronado High School girls’ volleyball team ended its regular season this week on a high note. Despite a loss earlier in the week to Cathedral Catholic, the Islanders won their final regular season game – on senior night – against Helix Charter High School.
In the home game against division rival Cathedral Catholic, a riveting first set ended with a thunderous spike from sophomore Ashlynn Proctor to get the team ahead 1-0. But the Islanders lost the next three consecutive sets, falling to the Dons for a third time in a row.
Head coach Adeile Ahmu said Cathedral’s offense was the key edge, and numbers back that up with 61 kills in 129 attempts, compared to Coronado’s 36 in 104 attempts.
“I think they were a little more dynamic offensively,” Ahmu said. “I think that made a big difference.”
Despite that, Ahmu viewed this go-round against Cathedral as more of a positive than the one prior.
“That was one thing when we played them the first time we met them; they ran a faster offense and we weren’t ready for that,” Ahmu said. “I think this time around, we were a little more ready for that.”
Two days later, the Islanders turned around to win in four sets against Helix. The squad features eight seniors: Leah Camaisa, Sadie Wilson, Maya DeWitt, Avalon Haro, Madison Davis, Alyssa Jovero, Ariana Van Handel and Lydia Schutt.
This year, the Islanders made the jump from CIF Division II to the Open Division, the most competitive division in San Diego. Despite that, CHS finished the regular season 32-7 and the girls have punched their ticket as the division’s No. 4 seed and are set to face off against The Bishop’s School in the first round of playoffs on Oct. 29. The Islanders are 1-1 on the season against Bishop’s.
Proctor broke out as a freshman last year and led the team in kills (484), kills per set (4.3), kill percentage (47%) and hit percentage (33%). This year, those numbers bumped to 642, 6.1, 49% and 38%, respectively. Sophomore Emily Albin followed behind Proctor with 208 kills. Proctor’s 642 kills puts her ahead of anyone else in California, and tenth in the nation, according to MaxPreps leaderboards. Prep Dig, a volleyball scouting and player rankings page, had Proctor as the sixth best class of 2028 recruit in California in its most recent ranking in May.
Ahmu has had a front row seat to Proctor’s progression.
“She is a well-rounded player but also her demeanor on the court, she’s very calm,” Ahmu said. “We always talk about being mentally tough and being out there because there’s a lot of pressure, especially with her, she’s our main offense for the most part, and she takes charge and keeps the level of play consistent.”
Last year, Ashlynn Proctor was the freshman breakout. This season, it’s been her younger sister, Brooke, who filled in at setter for Emily Page, a 2025 grad who now plays volleyball at Biola University.
Brooke leads the team by a landslide in assists with 821, and also leads in aces with 60. The next closest is her sister with 48.
Brooke’s immediate contribution to a dominant Islander team didn’t catch Ahmu off guard.
“I wasn’t surprised that she was going to bring that kind of ability and skill because her family is a volleyball family,” Ahmu said, referencing Brooke as the third Proctor she has coached at Coronado. “But the one thing that did surprise me was her maturity and how she just kind of falls right into place with this team. She takes charge as a setter. She controls the game without being bossy or pushy … The girls trust her.”
Another contributing factor to the dominance of this team, according to Ahmu, is the players’ dynamic. There are many upperclassmen, but some of the most contributing underclassmen, like the Proctor sisters, bring a lot of competitive experience, and have played with premier clubs like Wave Volleyball.
“Their chemistry, it goes up and down with them because being such experienced players, a lot of them know so much about the game,” Ahmu said. “They help each other. Sometimes they butt heads a little bit, but it’s for the betterment of the team.”
As playoffs near, there’ve been two primary focuses: middle defense, which is what Cathedral often exploited in their most recent matchup, and serving. The national average for aces per set is 2.5. Coronado averages 2.3. The team’s ace percentage, 11.2% is below the national average of 14.4%. Their serving percentage is 10% higher than the national average, but Ahmu would like to see more aggressive serves, as opposed to simply hitting easier serves to get the game started.
As Coronado enters postseason play, there’s been one thing in particular that coach Ahmu has been most proud of.
“The fight that they have in them,” she said. “I’m proud of the way that they never give up no matter what the score is, if they’re up four or down one or down nine … they fight until the end. I can’t ask for anything else.”
