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WIAA computers still piss poor at their job

October 9, 2026 by David Svien

Deciding the game on the field, not in the computer lab. (Jacob Lujan photo)

Here we go again.

Take a look at the RPI rankings for boys’ soccer on the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association website today, and you’ll notice something funky.

Two-time defending state champ Orcas Island is lodged at #1.

Feels right, sounds correct.

Then you’ve got Mount Vernon Christian at #2 and Coupeville, off to its best start in years at 7-2, sitting at #6 ahead of a Saturday home game with those second-ranked Hurricanes.

Lots of intrigue.

One of these is not like the others.

But the WTF moment? It’s at #4.

That’s where you find Columbia Adventist Academy, a team which has only played ONE game — when every other 2B or 1B team has played between four and 10 tilts.

It’s a win, yes, which makes the Kodiaks, technically, the only true undefeated team in the land, since Orcas has a tie against MVC to go with its nine wins.

But it’s a 2-1 win over Walla Walla Valley Academy, a team that sits at 1-7 on the season and is ranked #21 out of 23 teams.

Hardly the kind of victory to propel a team into the top four, one would think.

But this is the same WIAA computers that back in 2024 listed a non-existent team at #1 in its boys’ basketball rankings.

WIAA ranks seemingly non-existent boys’ hoops team #1 | Coupeville Sports

Oh wait, they did it twice?

WIAA still in love with fake teams | Coupeville Sports

Maybe the WIAA computers just love a mystery team, which fits once again in this case.

Columbia Adventist has only one game listed on Arbiter, the website Washington state schools use for scheduling.

Nothing past 2024 on MaxPreps.

One game — the win over Walla Walla — listed on Sports Illustrated.

Nothing beyond “CAA male athletes enjoy opportunities to participate in Varsity soccer every fall” on the school website.

The site for District 4 mistakenly lists boys’ soccer as a spring sport and has no game schedule or standings.

Though District 1, where Coupeville plays, also lists boys’ soccer in the spring, so no one’s perfect…

But dang, how many times can the WIAA computers be wrong?

Well, three at least.

Posted in Boys Soccer | Tagged , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Hear the cheers, honor the spirit

October 9, 2026 by David Svien

Marin Winger is ready to get things started. (Tenley Stuurmans photo)

Three cameras, multiple cheerleaders.

Snap-happy Tenley Stuurmans, Jacob Lujan, and Jackie Saia offer up a collection of Wolf spirit team photos to lead into Friday’s final home football game.

Kickoff is 7:00 PM, South Whidbey is the foe, and it’s Homecoming, The Battle for the Bucket, and Senior Night all wrapped into one for Coupeville High School.

How can you find your way to Mickey Clark Field?

Just follow the sound of the cheers.

(Jacob Lujan photo)

(Jackie Saia photo)

(Tenley Stuurmans photo)

(Jacob Lujan photo)

(Jackie Saia photo)

(Jackie Saia photo)

(Jacob Lujan photo)

Posted in Cheer | Tagged , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Long night, narrow loss

October 8, 2026 by David Svien

Arianna Cunningham gets low to keep a play alive. (Julie Wheat photo)

Long matches are a fickle mistress.

Coming off a five-set win over La Conner, the Coupeville High School varsity volleyball squad almost made it two epic victories in a row before falling just short at Darrington Thursday night.

The 23-25, 25-22, 25-15, 18-25, 15-9 win keeps the Loggers undefeated in Northwest 2B/1B League play at 3-0, trailing just Mount Vernon Christian (5-0) in the standings.

With the loss, Coupeville drops to 4-2 in conference action, 4-5 overall, and sits in third place in the seven-team league.

Up next is another road trip, this one to Orcas Island October 14, before Scout Smith’s spikers finish the regular season with four of five at home.

Thursday’s royal rumble was a match full of streaks, with the final one proving fatal for the Wolves.

Having rallied to capture the fourth set, Coupeville jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead in the final frame thanks to some pinpoint serving from Haylee Armstrong.

It didn’t hold up, however, as Darrington closed the match on a 15-5 run.

The Wolves kept things close, forcing a tie at 7-7 thanks to a Tenley Stuurmans kill that blew up the backline followed by an ace off the fingertips of Willow Leedy-Bonifas.

Capri Anter and Co. are a scrappy bunch. (Jacob Lujan photo)

But the Loggers proved golden after that, slipping away at the end as Coupeville had a run of shots which narrowly missed staying inside the court.

The teams opened the match with a ferocious first set which saw 11 ties and multiple lead changes, with neither squad able to pull away until Arianna Cunningham lashed a knee-buckling spike winner to bust a 23-23 tie.

Capri Anter and Cunningham led the way at the service line in the first set, while Stuurmans was an equal opportunity mashing machine, scalding every Logger player at one point or another with a series of wicked kills and elegant tips.

With the first set in hand, Coupeville was on the cusp of going up two sets to none, leading 21-15, only to go cold as the Loggers closed the frame on a torrid 10-1 run.

Before then, the Wolves got another batch of Stuurmans winners, along with Isa Mc Fetridge peppering Darrington with hard-to-hit serves.

Seemingly stunned a bit by losing its momentum, Coupeville struggled through much of the third set.

Down 10-4 early, the Wolves did rally to force a brief tie at 11-11, with Lexis Drake and Stuurmans playing strongly at the net, but Darrington once again proved to be the streak queens, using a 14-4 tear to push CHS to the brink.

Coupeville had an answer, fighting back from an early deficit in set #4 to keep the night hopping.

Drake pounded a kill off a Logger arm to stake the Wolves to their first lead at 7-6, the margin soared to 14-9 as Cunningham floated in mid-air and flicked a winner between bodies, and then … another Darrington streak.

Six straight points from the Loggers pushed them ahead 15-14, but Coupeville wasn’t having it.

Haylee Armstrong (1) and Kennedy O’Neill power up. (Jacob Lujan photo)

Kennedy O’Neill shoved the Wolves back in front, slicing off a winner from the side, before Leedy-Bonifas turned a 19-18 lead into a 25-18 set win with an impressive run of serves.

That set the stage for a grand finale, which, on this night, went to the team not wearing red and black.

 

Thursday stats:

Zariyah Allen — 3 digs, 1 assist, 1 block assist
Capri Anter — 12 digs, 1 ace
Haylee Armstrong — 12 digs, 25 assists, 6 aces
Arianna Cunningham — 12 kills, 17 digs, 1 assist
Lexis Drake — 3 kills, 1 assist, 1 block assist
Willow Leedy-Bonifas — 14 digs, 1 assist, 6 aces
Isa Mc Fetridge — 2 digs
Kennedy O’Neill — 4 kills, 3 digs
Tenley Stuurmans — 15 kills, 24 digs, 1 assist, 2 block assists, 3 aces

Posted in Volleyball | Tagged , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Rains, Leavitt serve up big win

October 8, 2026 by David Svien

Emily Rains plots your destruction. (Julie Wheat photos)

Ace, ace, in your face.

Wolf heavy hitters Emma Leavitt and Emily Rains were on point Thursday in Darrington, each firing off 10 unhittable serves, and a whole lot of other ones where the return ended up in the bleachers.

Powered by the wham-bam sisters, and a team-wide 26 aces, the Coupeville High School JV volleyball squad cruised to its third win in its last four matches.

Sweeping the host Loggers off the floor to a 25-18, 25-6, 25-12 tune, Alita Blouin’s spikers get to 3-3 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 3-6 overall.

The afternoon began with a crack of thunder, as Leavitt savaged Darrington with a serve that screamed past the defenders, and ended on another point-winning laser off the arm of Olivia Martin.

In between those titanic blows the Wolves offered their rivals very few opportunities to stage long rallies.

Coupeville was in control from start to finish, jumping out to staggering leads in the first two sets.

Riding a run of 10 straight points on her serve from Rains, the Wolves built a 13-1 margin in the opening frame, gave some points back, then closed things out with another run of strong serves from the Wolf freshman.

Rains also had a beautiful tip winner to blunt a Darrington rally, while Addison Jacobson whacked a spike off the backline to keep everyone honest.

Annabelle Cundiff brings the thunder and the lightning.

If set #1 was a bit of a romp, most of the time at least, set #2 was a full-on bushwacking.

Leavitt torched the Loggers for eight points at the service stripe, before Rains added another run of six straight winners as Coupeville went up 16-1.

This time the Wolves gave very little back, with Martin, Scarlett Spencer, and Jacobson joining the duo in controlling things on their serve.

While the match was already decided in favor of the visitors, the Wolves continued to carve up the Loggers in a third set played to get everyone valuable floor time.

Spencer came flying in from the side to deliver a pair of tip winners, while Annabelle Cundiff inherited the role of assassin, putting together a six-point run at the service stripe to bust things open.

Sabrina Judnich chipped in with hustle plays, Amira Anunciado and Hannah Roberts provided strong vocal support to their teammates, and Martin closed things out with a final burst of liquid fire, sending the Loggers back to their rooms without supper or a win.

 

Thursday stats:

Annabelle Cundiff — 3 aces
Addison Jacobson — 3 kills
Emma Leavitt — 1 dig, 5 assists, 10 aces
Olivia Martin — 1 kill, 4 digs, 2 aces
Emily Rains — 2 kills, 1 dig, 10 aces
Scarlett Spencer — 2 kills, 1 dig, 1 ace

Posted in Volleyball | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Everyone’s a scorer, everyone’s a winner

October 8, 2026 by David Svien

Emma Cushman is here for your cheers. (Jacob Lujan photos)

Spread the love.

That’s what the Coupeville High School girls’ soccer squad has done this season, with a program-best 12 players recording a goal.

The latest players to join the back of the net club are Emma Cushman and Hailey Goldman, who knocked in their first scores in a Wolf uniform Thursday to lift CHS to a 2-0 win at Providence Classical Christian.

The victory gets Coupeville back to .500 all the way around, as Jasmine Ader’s squad now sits at 3-3-2 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 4-4-2 overall.

With four conference clashes left on the schedule, led off by a road trip October 14 to winless Orcas Island, the Wolves are currently in fourth place in the seven-team NWL, and need a top three finish to earn a playoff berth.

Mount Vernon Christian (7-0 for 21 points), Friday Harbor (5-2 for 15), and Lopez Island (4-2-2 for 14) currently have those slots, with Coupeville hot on their heels with 11 points.

La Conner (2-2-2 for eight points), PCC (2-6 for six points) and Orcas (0-8 for nada) round out the standings.

Hailey Goldman triggers the offense.

Thursday’s win was huge for the Wolves and came from a strong team-wide effort.

Finley Helm and Bella Sandlin shared time in net, combining for the shutout and both coming up with big saves.

The former had an eye-popping dive save on a PCC shot, while the latter came up huge in the final 30 seconds of the game, snagging an incoming laser to keep the lid firmly clamped on the net.

Cushman’s goal was nailed on a successful penalty kick, while Goldman converted her score off of a pass from Lillian Ketterling, who sent a crisp shot in from the corner.

Even with Tamsin Ward, last year’s leading scorer, sidelined by a season-long injury so far, the Wolves have spread out their 22 goals between 12 players.

That handily beats the previous best tally of nine goal scorers set during the 2015 and 2017 seasons.

Posted in Girls Soccer | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

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