For the second time in as many seasons, the Coronado Islander boys’ volleyball program was crowned champions of the City Eastern League (last year it was City League) after securing wins against High Tech High and Canyon Hills High School. Their pair of late-season League wins pushed their league record to 8-2 for the year, putting them just ahead of second-place Mira Mesa.

Following their victories over High Tech and Canyon Hills, Coronado remained hot to end the regular season with a 3-0 victory over Fallbrook High. Pushing their season-high winning streak to seven games.

At home against the Warriors, Coronado jumped out to a commanding 13-5 lead in the first set. The early set dominance was highlighted by a pair of kills off the right hand of Cameron Lenert, a block by Chase Carstens, and a thunderous kill from Ryder Moore.

Coronado continued to capitalize on their early lead, pushing the first set to 22-12. Fallbrook attempted to mount a comeback, getting things as close as 23-27, but Coronado managed to close out the set thanks to a teardrop kill by Ryan Nanoff and an eventual service error from Fallbrook. Giving Coronado the first set.

While Coronado controlled the first set with relative ease, the second and third sets would be dogfights. In the second, Coronado actually found themselves trailing late 20-19. Despite trailing late, you never had the feeling that the Islanders were panicked.

The boys in green and black stayed cool and collected and ripped off a 6-3 run thanks to kills inside from Carl Allen and Gage Gilby and two from Moore to close out the set 25-23.

Much like they did in the second, Coronado and Fallbrook would essentially go tit-for-tat in the third, finding themselves gridlocked at 11-11. The Islanders managed to create some breathing room, going up 19-15 after a block and kill from turned in by Logan Berk.

Fallbrook would soon erase what little cushion the Islanders had created, going on a late 10-6 scoring run, knotting things at 25-25. Once again, the two teams would go back and forth, with the third set moving to 27-27.

Eventually, though, Coronado tightened up and managed to string points together, thanks to a block by Jackson McMullen and an eventual set and match-clinching kill by Gilby.

To conclude the regular season, the Islanders finished with a record of 23-11, just one win short of matching their total from last season.

Thanks to yet another successful season and a second straight League championship title, Coronado punched their ticket to the CIF DII playoffs. When the brackets were announced, the Islanders were slated as the No.8 overall seed in the DII bracket, setting up a first-round matchup against Mission Hills High School.

Coronado has some recent history with Mission Hills. The two matched up back on April 25th, and Coronado came away with the victory.

The Islanders boys’ volleyball team’s first-round playoff game is set for Tuesday, May 6th, 2025.