Wrangler News special by Austin Hepola
How does a rivalry start? A mixture of factors could spark one in the blink of an eye, but in the case of Corona del sol versus Perry girls volleyball; their rivalry is solely fueled by fierce competition.
In their 2024 home opener, Corona swept Perry in three straight sets (25-14, 25-13, 25-8). A statement game for the Aztecs who have a brewing history with their aforementioned opponent.
“We’re a top program here, you know?” said Corona girls volleyball head coach Ben Maxfield, who has a clear message for his team throughout this season.
“We always strive to be a top 10 school and then try and get into the Final Four, and see what can happen with that. So our goal is always to win state.”
Before recapping the Aztecs first home win of 2024, let’s set the stage for a moment and rewind to 2022.
Corona’s momentum was scorching hot heading into the 2022 playoffs as they went 17-0 in the regular season. On the way to their eventual state championship win, they met Perry in the semi finals and eliminated them.
Fast forward to 2023. Corona is back in the playoffs as the defending state champions and are set to face Perry in a rematch in the semi finals once again. Only this time, Perry evens the score by sending the Aztecs home.
“We wanted to pay them back for the semi finals from last year,” said Maxfield after their home opener win. “It’s not the same thing, a different team a little bit. But that was very disappointing last year. So I think we were locked in and just kind of wanted to exact a little revenge on them.”
Revenge was served on the court, courtesy of the Aztecs. They knew heading into this game that they needed to assert themselves as a force against a team they are very familiar with.
“The girls know each other really well. They play club together, so we have a good rivalry,” Maxfield added.
“Both Andrew (Yamashiro) and the previous coach, Fred (Mann), used to coach at Mountain point, which was one of our big rivals back in the day. So we just have a big history. It’s always just those little things, like, who’s gonna win it, but lots of respect for them.”
Corona operated as a synchronized unit in their win over Perry. They did not allow their opponent to reach 15 points in any of the three sets.
A defensive master class paired with a very opportunistic offense was the formula in their win. Libero Erin Clark said the team had their sights set on this game as soon as they saw the Pumas on their schedule.
“Going into this game, we all really wanted to win, so bad, it was definitely like a revenge game for us this year,” she said. “I think we all knew what the common goal was- to win state. But going into this our mindset is just one win at a time, and we’re just gonna keep going on the road to state.”
The Aztecs have to give some credit to their crowd, as they fed off their infectious energy during the game. They rode that skyrocketing momentum through three straight sets in a dominant win against the Pumas.
Outside hitter Alyssa Aguayo thinks home court advantage is an essential element to the game of volleyball. She believes their passion and exuberance helped them in their win.
“It’s very important. It’s really special,” Aguayo said. “It’s always great to hear them cheer for us, and they do a lot, which is really nice.”
Corona will look to carry the momentum gained from their rivalry win against Perry throughout this season. They will need it, as their schedule is a gauntlet full of teams who were in the 6A playoffs last season including Chandler, Queen Creek and Hamilton.
