With a very young beach volleyball team and new head coach Stacy Noble, who stepped to take over for long-time head coach Ben Maxfield— not available to coach this spring due to personal complications—Corona is sporting a 5-2 Division I record and is 3-0 in Section I.
The Aztecs have continued to practice and play competitively despite Noble finding out last month that Corona no longer had access to its normal beach courts for the rest of the season.
“On the spur of the moment, I had to scramble to find practice courts and courts to use for our matches the rest of the season,” said Noble. “Needless to say, it was a challenge with
everyone gone for spring break, including people at the District offices.”
Noble does have help from her daughter, assistant coach Mady Noble, a Corona alumnus
who gained experience not only from playing both indoor and beach volleyball for the Aztecs but her stint as a player and coach at the University of Arizona. At Corona, Mady lettered all four years in indoor and beach volleyball and was the Central Region Player of the Year for indoor volleyball, as a senior.
“Maddy brings a wealth of knowledge and experience as an assistant coach,” said Noble.
“In 2018, the first year of the AIA Beach Volleyball Pairs Championships, Maddy, just a
sophomore, and her partner, senior Brooke Nuneviller, won as pairs champions.” After graduation, Mady chose to play beach volleyball at U of A, where she competed before an
injury forced her to quit.
While playing her freshman year for the Wildcats, she and her partners were 21-4, completing the season with the highest winning percentage, 40, on the team, which helped Mady earn Pac-12 All-Freshman team honors and AVCA Top Flight recognition.
At the Pac-12 championships, Noble and her partner Dana Parker were the only undefeated
pair for the Wildcats, according to the university website. Unfortunately, Mady was only able to play two matches in her sophomore season before she was forced to medically retire from competing due to injury.
Instead, in 2023, Mady’s junior year, she joined the staff as a student assistant coach where she was active with practices and scouting. Mady is currently on track to graduate from the University of Arizona in May.
“Mady has brought a wealth of knowledge and experience to this team,” says Stacy Noble. “The girls really look up to her and hang on to her every word when she is teaching them the beach game. It has been really fun to watch.”
The Aztecs returned only one player from last year’s team and currently have five freshman, three sophomores and two juniors playing in the starting t10 or the five pairs of players. “The only returning player we have is sophomore Adrya Vance, who was an alternate as a freshman on last year’s team,” said Stacy.
“Otherwise, we are a very young team with just two juniors and the rest freshman and sophomores.” Most of the players have little or no beach experience although all of them are currently or have played indoor club volleyball, according to Stacy.
“It has been really fun for us coaches to work with this fresh, young, fun team,” said Stacy,
“because these girls want to be here. They are so excited with what they have learned during practices and seeing the results in matches.”
There are no individual players that stand out as being much better than others because they are all young and inexperienced in beach volleyball, according to Noble.
“We do have a couple of taller sophomores and juniors that are playing great at the net as
blockers,” said Noble. “We also have four players who play libero during the indoor volleyball season. They obviously do really well defending in the sand but all the girls have brought different skill sets to the team.
“We have six freshmen that bring a lot of energy and enthusiasm to the team,” said Stacy Noble. “They have a good relationship with all the girls on the team and have really stepped up. These young players have already exceeded our expectations in
practice and in matches.” Freshman Lexie Stevens and the Aztecs’ only returning player, sophomore Adrya Vance, have consistently played as the No. 1 pair this season.
“We have Adrya and Lexie as our No. 1 pair because they are the two on the team that probably had the most beach experience and displayed instant compatibility playing as a team,” said Stacy Noble. “Our No. 2 and No. 3 pairs are just as capable of being in that No. 1 spot but are still learning the game and working on their chemistry as pairs.”
Recently playing as the No. 2 pair have been sophomore Paige Nenaber and freshman Aubrey Butterfield. The No. 3 pair has coupled freshman Reese Wibricht and Taryn Vesely while the No. 4 pair has been freshmen Angelina Favela and Kate Shaw. Rounding out the No. 5 pair are a mixture of junior Laney Hunsaker, freshman Shannon Kirchhardt, junior Tabitha Sywak and sophomore Davyn Dehorney.
The Aztecs have five matches left in the regular season before the playoffs start April 16. Corona was scheduled to play at home against Marana Mountain View on April 1 and against Ironwood Ridge on April 3 at 2 p.m. On April 3, at 4 p.m., the Aztecs were scheduled to play against Cienega. The last two matches of the season will be at Desert Vista on April 8 at 4 p.m. and at home against Mesa Mountain View on April 10 at 3 p.m.
Currently the schedule shows the match will be played at Tempe Town Lake VB courts but will need to be verified.
Marcos de Niza Beach Volleyball The Padres Division II beach volleyball team consists of four seniors, including Isabella Rodriguez, Giselle Orndorf, Isabella Newell, Mariah Estrella and Evelyn Rodea, along with four sophomores and five freshman players. Rodriguez and Orndorf started the season playing as the No. 1 pair, followed by sophomore Nevaeh Lizarraga and Rodea at the No. 2 spot. Newell and sophomore Angelina Arispe were the No. 3 pair while Estrella and sophomore Madison Staroszik were pair No. 4. Starting as the No. 5 pair was sophomore Matalie Payan and freshman Myah Navarro.
But as the season progressed, Payan and Navarro moved up to the No. 4 pair while sophomore Isabella Primero and freshman Mila Humphrey worked up to play the No. 5 pair.
Positions moved around for other players who had improved over the season so that in the
last match on March 29 against Rancho Solano Prep, the No. 1 pair was Rodea and Lizarraga, the No. 2 pair was Arispe and Navarro, the No. 3 pair was Humphrey and Staroszik, the No. 4 pair was freshman Karis Pilar and freshman Cecila Cardenas and the No. 5 pair was freshman Sofia Acosta and Primero.
The Padres last home match was scheduled for April 3 against Seton Catholic Prep, where they will have honored their seniors. The last regular season match is scheduled for April 8 against AZ College Prep played at Casteel High School. The Division II state championship team playoffs are scheduled to start April 16.
