Corona del Sol captures Westwood TOC VB title

September 10, 2022 by Les Willsey, AZPreps365


Corona del Sol sports individual medals and championship plaque for winning the 30th Tournament of Champions hosted by Westwood High. (Azpreps365 photo)

The only loss Corona del Sol suffered in the 2022 Tournament of Champions volleyball invite was avenged in a more meaningful match later in the day on Saturday.

Corona fell to Sunnyslope to begin the second day of pool play, but at tourney's end had a chance for revenge. The Aztecs achieved it with a sweep of the Vikings, 25-21, 25-14.

In winning the tournament -  hosted as always by Westwood High - Corona defeated Williams Field, Northwest Christian, McClintock, ALA Gilbert North and Horizon in pool play. The Aztecs followed up with victories in bracket play over Valley Christian, Liberty and Gilbert before taking down Sunnyslope for the championship.

"I felt like we showed a lot of resilience," Corona coach Ben Maxfield said after watched his team prevail in nine of 10 tournament matches over two days. "We improved on our passing and our setter did a great job spreading it to our hitters."

The lead in both sets belonged to Corona almost exclusively.  The Aztecs trailed 3-1 in the first set, but a 7-0 run put them ahead to stay. Sunnyslope made a late run at the end of the set pulling within 23-20. Barton stopped the momentum with a kill and a Sunnyslope service error was the final point of the set.

The second set contained no drama. Corona bolted to a 6-1 lead. Barton had two kills in the 6-0 run and shared a block with Lomigora. Corona's biggest lead in the set was 24-8.

Corona del Sol was paced by tournament most valuable players and senior outside hitter Kierstyn Barton. Barton shared attack honors with teammate Ella Lomigora in the title match with eight kills each. Setter Julia Owens handed out 20 assists and defense was keyed by Erin Clark and Maggie Beauer with 15 digs and 11 digs, respectively. Sophomore hitter Alyssa Aguayo chimed in with four aces to conclude the highlights of the stat sheet. Zoe Haan and Georgi Stein paced Sunnyslope with 5 and 4 kills, respectively, in the title match.

Joining Barton on the all-tournament team: Sunnyslope's Mikayla Shepston; Millennium's Eryn Jones; Hamilton's Neomi Beach; Gilbert's Makenzie Schoenhardt; Highland's Zoe John; Horizon's Kendal Murphy; Liberty's Ellie Trimble; Mesa Mtn. View's Olivia Tukuafu; Perry's Amy Wahlin; Valley Christian's Kate Phillips and Thatcher's Peyton Devlin.