This season has gotten off to just about as good a start as anyone could have hoped for within the Coronado Islanders girls’ tennis program. Through four matches, the Lady Islanders have dominated the hard court, starting the year a perfect 4-0.
It’s a winning trend that continued on this past week, as Coronado claimed two more victories—taking down Mission Bay High School and University City High School. Moving their record to 6-0, and more importantly, securing two vital league wins.
In the week’s opening match against Mission Bay, Coronado squeaked by their rivals by a final score of 11-7.
As they often have this season, the Islanders received a huge push from their doubles line. Maria Anaya and Grace Elardo once again put together a clean sweep in their trio of matches. Their trio of victories kept the duo undefeated this season, with a 14-0 record in their 14 matches played. Dating back to 2024, Anaya and Elardo are 65-7 when taking the court together.
Lilah Cade and Logan Shapiro claimed two victories in their doubles matches, while Sam Aldworth and Brynn Belong locked down one match win for the Islanders.
Meanwhile, on singles, Paula Avila once again stepped up in a big way for the Islanders. For a second straight match, the freshman went undefeated. Grabbing three key points for the Islanders. Over her last six matches played, Avila has gone 6-0.
Without her clean sweep, last Tuesday’s match possibly swung in favor of Mission Bay. To round out the singles line, Sophia Otiko and Zoe Rice each won one match apiece.
Following the Islanders’ home victory over Mission Bay, the Islanders would hit the road for the first time all season to take on University City. Despite having four players from the team’s usual starting line-up absent due to travel schedules, Coronado dug deep and cruised to a 13-5 win over the Centurions.
Grace Elardo moved to singles and wouldn’t skip a beat, going undefeated and grabbing three key points for the Islanders. Avila turned in another strong outing, grabbing two wins in singles on Thursday. As would Logan Shapiro, helping Coronado claim the singles lines 7-2 over University City.
Meanwhile, in doubles, the pairing of Zoe Rice and Sophia Otiko stole the show, winning all three of their matches: Beating University City’s no. 1, no. 2, and no. 3 doubles teams with ease. Brynn Belong and Ines Gil would also step up, grabbing two victories while Abigail McKissick and Whitney Pate grabbed one.
The 6-0 Islanders will look to keep the good times rolling when they return to action this week with a pair of matches against Christian High School on September 23rd and against High Tech High on September 25th.
VOL. 115, NO. 39 - Sept. 24, 2025
During much of the offseason and in the early portion of the 2025 regular season, Islanders boys water polo head coach David Throop has emphasized the importance of development and understanding the process to his team.
Sure, there have been some early-season hiccups, but last weekend at the 2025 America’s Finest City tournament, the Islanders showed signs of serious growth by finishing sixth overall and pulling off one of the biggest upsets of the tournament by besting Riverside Poly in round one, 14-13.
“Riverside Poly blew out everyone, so for us to find a way to win that game is huge,” said Throop. “A month ago, a game like that could have spiraled out of control, but now the guys are finding ways to stay competitive that previously they might not have.”
A point of emphasis in recent weeks for this Islander team has been getting off to faster starts, both offensively and defensively. At times finding themselves in early 3-0 or 4-0 holes. Against Riverside Poly, they were able to limit the first-quarter goal total to two.
“Keeping that gap shorter helped,” said Throop. “Then once or twice we got into a situation where we were trading goals and the guys figured out that they needed to stop that and did a good job of making that adjustment.”
For the entirety of the tournament, several players from the Islanders’ roster stepped up. Carter Mondzelewski and Devin Ertekin played extremely well off one another on offense from the same side of the pool.
Throop was also quick to point out the play of both Van Marinics and Charley Pretzinger. “Really, I have seen a huge level of growth with both Van and Charley. They both have a great understanding of what we are trying to do offensively and defensively. To have two left haters who are comparable and each offer different things is incredible.”
Another standout from the Islanders’ play at the America’s Finest City tournament was the continued strong play of their centers, Russell Richardson and Luca Morocco.
“Luca’s role is more difficult than I think some people realize. He provides a mismatch because he is getting shots off that teams aren’t expecting,” said Throop. “Meanwhile, with Russell, he creates these mismatches that teams have to worry about, and it opens up the outside game. I really think our biggest strength is with those two guys inside.”
Meanwhile, defensively, Throop was impressed with the poise and comfort shown in the cage by Braydon McLean. Against Teams like Riverside Poly and Damien, he recorded a number of one-on-one short-range looks to help keep the Islanders in matches.
“I’ve been really impressed with Braydon’s play over the last two weeks,” said Throop. “He has given us some life-blocking shots that are typically goals 85% of the time.”
After a week of quality play, Coronado will look to pick up a few more wins this week. That will start with a Tuesday afternoon showdown against Mt. Carmel High School.
“I think our advantage against Mt. Carmel will be down the middle of the pool,” said Throop.
VOL. 115, NO. 39 - Sept. 24, 2025
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