Coupeville Sports

All for one and one for all. (Aimee Bishop photo)

It was a good day to be a Wolf. (Robert Pelant photo)

Senior Haley Marx shares the joy of her team’s first win with her parents after the match. (Robert Pelant photo)

“I love to see their smiles!”

That was a sentiment heard from numerous parents Thursday, as three separate Coupeville High School teams pulled off electrifying wins, guaranteeing a somber ride back to Sultan for the visiting Turks.

The Wolf girls’ soccer squad won their first game of the season, breaking out of a season-long scoring funk and erupting for a 3-1 win at Mickey Clark Field. Just down the road, the CHS gym was rockin’ all night long, as the JV spikers shredded Sultan 25-18, 25-23, 25-23 behind the play of Kenzie Kooch and Kacie Kiel, a mere prelude to the epic five-set win (25-21, 19-25, 25-22, 15-25, 15-10) the varsity would then pull out, sending their fans into a fit of pandemonium.

With pink (and an excess of glitter) everywhere, as the athletes honored breast cancer awareness, the young women of Coupeville reached down and found a new resolve. That was never more evident than on the volleyball court, where Wolf captain Bessie Walstad paid tribute to those who have fought the disease, including Wolf Athletic Director Lori Stolee.

What many in the crowd might not have known was the spikers were also paying tribute to the mother of two of their players (Katie and Kacie Kiel), who was recently diagnosed with the disease. After bringing her presents and raining hugs down on her, they left her with a smile as they played their best volleyball of the season.

The JV, sparked by Kooch, their captain, blitzed the Turks. A run of nice serves by Camilla Rische, Miranda Engle and Sidney Autio packaged around well-placed tips by McKenzie Bailey and Rhiannon Ellsworth made things easy and then Kacie Kiel unloaded a couple of whiplash-inducing spikes just to seal the deal.

The varsity match was more of a full-on war, one that intensified the longer the match went on. When the Sultan cheering section, buoyed by an influx of soccer players, tried to get loud, Coupeville’s fans (in particular Steve Kiel, who set a one-man record for good-natured lung-busting love of his Wolves) showed why NO ONE makes them bow down.

Inspired and a bit amused by the action in the stands, the Wolves threw themselves around the court with wild abandon. If Amanda Fabrizi wasn’t going face-first in pursuit of a dig, then Breeanna Messner and Sydney Aparicio were pulling off a tandem dive.

Coupeville opened the match with a display of power from enforcers Walstad and Hailey Hammer, then cinched the first set with a perfectly-placed tip from Messner that slid artfully through a razor-thin opening between two flailing Sultan players.

After falling behind in the second set, the Wolves staged a furious rally, punctuated by Haley Sherman unleashing a cold, precise fury on the hapless Turks, burying several shots off of the kneecaps of her opponents. It wasn’t quite enough, however as the Turks held on to even the match.

The match went on like that, point and counterpoint, through two more split sets and then a nail-biting finale. Up 9-3 in the final set, Coupeville surrendered six straight points, before Walstad broke out her best steely glare and laced a game-busting spike. Riding the wave of cheers, the Wolves closed out the match with picture-perfect tips from Messner and Megan Oakes and then, finally, Steve Kiel was free to head home and drink a nice warm cup of tea to sooth his throat.

The Wolf booters were making their own magic across town, assaulting the goal in a manner not seen this season.

Makana Stone opened things with a breakaway goal off of a through ball from Amanda d’Almeida, Madison Tisa McPhee flat out schooled the Sultan goalie by taking away a loose ball and chipping it into the net and then Haley Marx put the cherry on top by smashing a pass from d’Almeida past the defense.

With a rare lead, sophomore goalie McKayla Bailey and her stalwart defenders (Anna Bailey, Jenn Spark, Kelsey Miranda and Marisa Etzell, among others) went into lock-down mode and ran the clock out, setting off a group celebration that could probably be heard across town.

Well, unless you were sitting next to Steve Kiel. But hey, if I’m semi-deaf for a day or two, I’m OK with it.