Coupeville Sports

     Breeanna Messner was electric Saturday, pacing her squad to its first win of the season. (Aimee Bishop photo)

The student has become the master.

With recently-retired Coupeville High School volleyball coach Toni Crebbin working the PA system, the new woman in charge, Crebbin’s former player, Kirsty Croghan, notched her first win as a high school head coach Saturday.

Still basking in the glow of getting a hug from an adorable baby whose family had come to root her on, Croghan then turned her attention to her players and had to be excited with what she saw. Getting big contributions from all eight girls who saw floor time, the Wolf varsity drilled visiting Port Townsend 25-11, 25-17, 25-19.

“We still have some work to do, but it is exciting to get a win under our belts early on,” said a beaming Croghan afterwards.

Now 1-1 on the young season, Coupeville mixed strong setting (37 of 41 with 17 assists) with knee-buckling hits (Breeanna Messner tallied five kills, while Hailey Hammer tossed in three) to keep the Redskins on their heels.

The Wolves blew out to an 8-1 lead in the first set, sparked by a perfectly-timed double stuff from Hammer and leapin’ Kacie Kiel, one of five blocks by the CHS squad. Coupeville then punctuated the early run with teeth-rattling spikes from Messner (who hit with attitude all afternoon) and Hammer.

When they had the ball in their hands, the Wolves were virtually unstoppable, as Megan Oakes, Messner, Kiel and Amanda Fabrizi all pulled off long, successful runs at the service stripe. Overall, Coupeville converted a crisp 90% on its serves.

For the match, Oakes was 17 of 20 on serves, with four aces, while Kiel and Hammer each dropped three aces of their own.

The Wolves were equally as superb when receiving serve, with Messner leading the way with a flawless 10 of 10 performance. Kiel was 11 of 14 and Sydney Aparicio nailed 8 of 9.

The final two sets were a bit closer in score, but dominated almost equally by the high-flying Wolves. Allie Hanigan and Madeline Strasburg stepped up with big plays in the second set, while Hammer unleashed a wicked serve that exploded up and tattooed the face of a Port Townsend player.

Capping a strong all-around performance, Messner, one of the team’s senior leaders, was everywhere in the final set. She administered a string of stinging spikes, then elevated to stuff a Redskin shot at the last second before skipping away, face beaming as she was mobbed by her cheering teammates.

Even on points they didn’t win, the Wolves brought their A-game, as when Fabrizi laid out, collecting floor burns in a valiant effort to save a ball that no one else had a prayer of reaching.

More often than not, though, Coupeville’s shots hit pay dirt, with Strasburg unwinding on a mammoth blast to cap the scoring and set off the on-court celebration.