Coupeville Sports

Valen Trujillo, CHS volleyball star on the rise. (John Fisken photo)

Port Townsend had no answer for Valen Trujillo.

The Coupeville High School freshman reeled off point after point on her service Saturday, propelling the Wolf JV volleyball squad to a three-set win for its first victory of the young season.

What started as a romp turned into more of an evenly-fought struggle in the late going, but Coupeville persevered, pulling out a 25-6, 20-25, 25-21 win under the guidance of spiker guru Amy King.

Using her entire bench, the Wolf coach played mix and match and found inspiration wherever she turned.

It started with Trujillo, who broke open the first set.

After Miranda Engle blasted a point-scoring spike to break Port Townsend’s serve, Trujillo sparked Coupeville from a 1-1 tie to a 12-1 lead. She blasted a pair of aces and continually put the light-hitting Redskins on their heels with low, powerful serves that exploded into the waiting receiver.

She also got some help from her teammates, particularly during a long rally where Monica Vidoni made a brilliant lunging save on a ball that was inches away from dropping in and ending Trujillo’s run.

Vidoni and Engle brought the power all afternoon, as they went high to pound winners on a consistent basis.

Trujillo, when she wasn’t serving, froze Port Townsend in place with precision-placed tips of her own, while Jae LeVine, Emily Coulter and Lauren Grove provided maximum hustle.

Rallying after the emotional devastation of the first set, the Resdskins got back in the match with a strong second set, jumping out to an 18-6 run.

McKenzie Bailey blunted the run, firing off an impressive run of her own at the service stripe, but the Wolves couldn’t quite make it back all the way.

The deciding set was the closest of the afternoon, as both squads battled in a game of tug of war. There were eight ties, before Coupeville surged for the final time with Engle serving.

Using nice plays from Vidoni and Ally Roberts, Engle brought the Wolves back from 16-14 down and finished her service time with CHS holding a 20-14 lead.

From that point on, it was just a question of when and not if, as Vidoni unleashed a slam that shook the rafters and Tiffany Briscoe ended the match with a laser shot that caught the end line and set off a roar from her teammates and fans.