CORONADO THUNDERBIRDS SOAR PAST FRANKLIN, 3-1

By PREP1 Sports | September 30, 2026 The Coronado Thunderbirds took care of business on their home court Wednesday night. Coronado defeated the Franklin Cougars 3-1 at Coronado High School, winning 25-22, 19-25, 25-22, 25-19 to pick up an important District 1-6A victory. It was a back-and-forth battle early, with Franklin answering Coronado's first-set win by taking the second. But the Thunderbirds regained control in the third and closed out the match in four sets. THUNDERBIRDS ANSWER THE CALL The opening set immediately showed that neither team was going to give anything away. Coronado edged Franklin 25-22, but the Cougars responded with a 25-19 second-set victory to even the match at 1-1. That's when the Thunderbirds found another gear. Coronado captured the third set 25-22, then finished Franklin off with a 25-19 fourth-set victory. The Thunderbirds' ability to win the close sets proved to be the difference. SOLTERO SETS THE TEMPO Difanny Soltero turned in an all-around performance for Coronado, finishing with 13 kills, 22 assists and 11 digs. Her ability to contribute in multiple phases gave the Thunderbirds another dimension throughout the four-set battle. Hazelle Arias was also busy defensively, recording 27 digs, along with an ace and four assists. Natasha Hernandez added 15 kills, one block and 12 digs, while Tiwa Opawumi produced one of the night's biggest individual stat lines with 17 kills, three blocks, one ace, one assist and 15 digs. Other Coronado contributors included: - Emma Ledesma: 6 kills, 1 block - Lacie Rivera-Ihlefeld: 2 kills, 3 blocks - Ollie Ikem: 1 kill, 3 blocks - Vivian Ortiz: 1 assist, 7 digs - Riley Blacksher: 1 dig The numbers reflected the balanced effort that helped Coronado close out the match. FRANKLIN FIGHTS BACK Franklin had its moments and refused to let the match get away. The Cougars' statistical leaders included Gabriela Ayala with 12 kills, while Mia Amador finished with 12 kills and 12 digs. Defensively, Mia Macias recorded 15 digs and Ariana Juanes added 16 digs. At the net and behind the offense, Stephanie Lozano delivered 22 assists and 16 digs, while Madison Montes contributed 11 assists and five digs. Franklin's second-set response demonstrated exactly why this matchup was competitive: after dropping the opener, the Cougars came back aggressively and evened the match. But Coronado wouldn't surrender the momentum again. A KEY DISTRICT WIN The victory moves Coronado to 18-9 overall and 5-2 in District 1-6A, while Franklin falls to 19-12 overall and 3-2 in district play. Those records are based on the teams' records entering Wednesday's match and the reported result. The Thunderbirds entered the night having won nine consecutive road matches, but Wednesday's victory came on their home floor — giving Coronado another important district win in front of its home crowd. MaxPreps The matchup also featured two of El Paso's top-ranked 6A programs entering the night, with Coronado listed ahead of Franklin in the MaxPreps Texas, Region I and El Paso rankings. MaxPreps But on this night, the standings and rankings took a back seat to four sets of volleyball. Coronado won the close ones. And that was enough. FINAL CORONADO 3, FRANKLIN 1 Set Scores: 25-22 | 19-25 | 25-22 | 25-19 PHOTO: For Shots by Fernando