Coupeville Sports

Monica Vidoni owns the net. (John Fisken photo)

Pity the fool who tried to spike over Monica Vidoni Thursday.

Controlling the net with a fiery intensity, the Coupeville High School junior was a ruthless force of nature, repeatedly rising up to snuff out Granite Falls winners, then bounding away to be congratulated by her teammates.

Forming a big-hitting trio with Miranda Engle and Tiffany Briscoe, Vidoni, who also laid down some ferocious serves, sparked her squad to rally after rally, but the Wolf JV spikers were nipped 25-21, 18-25, 15-10 despite her best efforts.

It wasn’t for lack of effort, however.

Coupeville held off four set points in the opener, with McKenzie Bailey reeling off a string of unhittable serves. When that rally ran out of time, the Wolves then calmly turned around and put a hurtin’ on the Tigers in round two.

With Engle dropping darts over the net on her serve and Valen Trujillo freezing people in place with precision tips, Coupeville blew open a close second set. The final stamp came on a beautiful winner to the back line from Vidoni.

The set was also notable for the continued willingness of foreign exchange student Merle Fitzenhagen to sacrifice one important part of her body.

For the second time this season, she took a shot off the noggin, but never lost her ever-present smile, even if she did turn a little red in the face.