Nado Natterings
A weekly column by David Axelson

Nado Natterings
by David Axelson, Chief Executive Officer
The Islander Sports Foundation

12 Sept 2007 Issue #35

Getting a jump on the regular season last week, the Girls Volleyball Team went on the road and defeated Horizon 17-25, 25-20, 25-23, and 25-23 to win their season opener. “It was a great game actually,” said Coronado Head Coach Christina Lahr. “We looked ready to play when we got there. They looked like they wanted to work hard and it all came together.”

One of the interesting elements in the victory was a series of lineup changes immediately before the first game, which “freaked a couple of kids out,” according to Lahr. “We had Kelsey Fitzgerald set along with Krista Baszak and Melissa Humphrey. Kelsey set from the back row and hit in the front row. We moved Christy Mebust to librero (defensive specialist), which is a new position for her in high school, but not in club play. It worked out really well for us.”

Moving Mebust to the librero slot allowed the reigning Islander Team MVP to utilize one of her strengths, which is passing. “Christy took about 85 percent of their serves. She only had about three errors on serve/receive during the whole match. They served to one of our best passers all game long.”

Kelsey Fitzgerald also handled her new role well, and was credited with 30 assists. Korey Fitzgerald, Kelsey’s sophomore sister, had 15 kills in the match and junior Maddie Boomer contributed 11 kills.

The match featured some drama in the fourth game, as the Islanders seemed poised to pull away from Horizon on their way to a blowout win, only to have Horizon fight back. “I was confident in the lineup that was in the game and I wasn’t worried about our ability to hold our own,” said Lahr. “We stopped the Horizon run at the end of the game. We got a sideout and Shelby Couture served an ace to win the game.”

The Coronado team is sprinkled with underclassmen, which bodes well for the future. “Shelby did well for a freshman with no game experience at the high school level. I want to work out some kinks with her regarding her knowledge of the game at the varsity level, but that will come with more playing in practice and games. She did very well. Laney Mebust is playing her first year on the varsity and Annie Wilson came in during the latter half of the match. They are both sophomores.”

An added positive was that the JV under the direction of Coach Leilani Au Hoon won their match with Horizon in three straight games. This week the varsity, junior varsity and frosh/soph team coached by Leilehua Low all play at Morse High School Thursday. The varsity match is slated for a 3 pm start.

CHS Girls Golf Defeats Crawford in Season Opener

Last week we noted that the 2007 version of the CHS Girls Golf Team was very young and a tad inexperienced. Despite those elements and the fact that only two players from 2006 return to the squad, the Islanders got off on the right foot this season with a 303-330 victory over Crawford High School last week.

“The rest of our team members are pretty much brand new golfers,” said Head Coach Hannah Cohan. “But they (Crawford) had even newer girls. Our team has four sophomores, five juniors and two seniors this year.”

The best Islander round of the day was a 52 carded by Mackenzie Coutts. The rest of the team for Coronado included Captain Allie Icenhower, Bridgett Nielson, Andrea Davis, and Lety Buil-Macarty.

Coach Cohan acknowledged the continuing support of City of Coronado Golf Pro Ron Yarbrough, who is donating range balls for the team this season. “That’s a big plus,” Cohan added.

Monday the Islanders compete against Mira Mesa High School at Torrey Pines and then host Our Lady of Peace Thursday.

Islander Boys Water Polo Opens Regular Season Saturday

Although they didn’t play a regular season game, the Boys Water Polo Team did get their fair share of pool time last week. “We scrimmaged Saturday against two very strong, traditional teams,” said Head Coach Randy Burgess. “We hosted Esperanza from Anaheim Hills and Servite High School from Anaheim.”

For the record, the competition the Islanders faced in the scrimmage was at an elite level. Entering the coming season, Servite is No. 2 in the Orange County Division II pre-season rankings and Esperanza is No. 9 in Division I.

“It was good to see where we’re at,” Burgess continued. “We had a few of the kids out with SAT testing and we literally didn’t keep score. We rotated three teams for a couple of hours. The scrimmage was important for me and the assistant coaches to help in our evaluation of talent. Both of the teams we played will fare well in Orange County.”

As they have in recent years, Coronado opens their season Saturday on the road at Newport High School, which is ranked No. 2 in Division I in Orange County. The freshmen and sophomores travel up the coast Thursday, the JV makes the trek Friday and all three Coronado teams will be in Newport Saturday.

Coronado Football Squad Travels to El Capitan Friday

The football teams from El Capitan and Coronado started their season in similar fashions, playing their first contests of the new season in Hawaii. However, the teams took a divergent approach to their scheduling upon their return to the mainland.

The Vaqueros defeated King Kekaulike High School 51-35, but then lost to Ramona 49-21 last Friday night. Coronado started their season with a 21-0 victory over Kapa’a High School and then took a saner approach, incorporating a bye week into their schedule. The two teams will meet in Lakeside Friday night at 7 pm.

North County Times Football Poll

After a couple of years on the sidelines, Your Natterer is once again a voter in the North Country Times Prep Football Poll. The collective wisdom of the sportswriters and sportscasters this week is as follows: No. 1 Carlsbad; No. 2 Helix; No. 3 Poway; No. 4 Oceanside, No. 5 Mission Bay; No. 6 Mission Hills; No. 7 Mira Mesa; No. 8 Scripps Ranch; No. 9 Eastlake; No. 10 La Costa Canyon. The next five receiving votes include: Cathedral Catholic, RBV, St. Augustine, Torrey Pines, and Vista.

Note that the Islanders first home opponent for the 2007 season is No. 5 Mission Bay. The game will be played at 7:30 pm Friday, Sept. 21.

Girls Tennis

In their final tune-up for the regular season, the CHS Girls Tennis Team lost to San Ysidro 14-4 in a match played in Coronado. The Islander singles squad consisted of No. 1 Spencer Berman, No. 2 Jennifer Carney, No. 3 Simmi Deo. The doubles contingent included No. 1 Natalie Brooks/Brittney Kullberg, No. 2 Andrea Sassenrath/Grace Lancaster and No. 3 Tiffany Barnard/Katie Culora. Marian McCadden also received some court time for Coronado.

“We put a lot of different players in a lot of different situations,” said Head Coach Rob LeBuhn of his team. “This was an exhibition game and I wanted to give a lot of girls who have been working hard a chance to play.”

This week the Islanders launch their regular season with a Wednesday match at home against Mira Mesa. The match will begin at 3 pm.

Coronado Girls Under 17 Premier Elite Squad on Winning Spree

The Nado Select Under-17 Girls Premier Elite Soccer Team embarked on an impressive streak over the summer. Coached by Brain Hiatt-Aleu, who doubles as the CHS Boys Soccer Varsity Coach, the team recently reached the semi-finals of the nationally-recognized Arsenal Cup in early June.

But that was just the beginning. Playing in the Pegasus Cup July 7-9, Nado went undefeated and outscored their opponents 11-2. Alexis Barbara led the team in scoring, with additional offensive assistance from Rachel Naranjo, Lindsey Gatlin, and Cristina Martinez.

Then it was on to the Pateadores Cup July 21-23 in Irvine, an ultra-competitive tournament where the audience includes college coaches and scouts looking for talent to play at the next level. Nado again went undefeated and paced by the efforts of goalie Andrea Davis, posted four consecutive shutouts. The championship game was a 1-0 victory over the Cerritos Regional Infinity Soccer Club.

Returning home, Nado won their own event, the Coronado Crown City Classic (August 4-5), overwhelming their opponents by the aggregate score of 15-3 in four games. Total for the season thus far, one semi-final tournament appearance followed closely by three straight championship titles.

According to Hiatt-Aleu, the team improved in three areas throughout the summer. “There were three major weaknesses and three major strengths that I saw coming out of our first tournament. Communication was not there yet; our defensive shape was sloppy; and the team transitioned too slowly. Those were three things we needed to fix in order to achieve success for the upcoming season. Fortunately these weaknesses were offset by the team’s unity, aggressiveness and strong desire to be successful.”

In addition to those listed above, team members included: Jayde Aman-Siwy, Laura Del Castillo, Paige Berube, Tiffany Lambert, Brooke Clifford, Mackenzie Coutts, Yasmin Davalos, Sadie Spezzano, and Nicole Williams.

Nado Select Director of Coaching Manny Neves discussed the elite level the Nado Select Under-17 Girls Team has achieved. “Out of roughly 40 SoCal teams in the Presidio Soccer league, there were only 10 teams chosen to play in the Premier Elite Bracket. This bracket, along with the Premier Elite bracket of the Coast Soccer League, represents the toughest and highest level of competition for females between the ages of 16 and 19 in the U.S. Through their dedication to soccer, they have achieved an extraordinary feat that is attainable only through hard work and dedication.”