Coupeville Sports

Ready to rock ‘n roll are Wolf volleyball stars (l to r) McKenzie Bailey, Kacie Kiel, McKayla Bailey and Sydney Autio.

  Lauren Grove (4) waits for the play during Saturday’s jamboree. (Justine McGranahan photos)

Katrina McGranahan stays focused on the ball.

Freshman Allison Wenzel eyes the competition.

Other than a tweaked thumb or two, it went very, very nicely.

Making their season debut, the Coupeville High School varsity and JV volleyball squads hit the courts Saturday for a jamboree in Oak Harbor.

The event gave the Wolves a chance to play against live competition and get a measure of where they are as they head into their first match Tuesday at South Whidbey.

“It was a good experience before we go into the season,” said senior Hailey Hammer. “We had some good plays and some not good plays.

“We have room for improvement,” she added. “We played Darrington twice and we play them during the season; we can take them. I think this season will be good.”

Fellow senior Kacie Kiel experienced some pain during the jamboree, jamming her thumb, but lived to walk away and tell the tale.

She was more concerned with how her team did than in complaining about her injury, anyway.

“It was okay, we did really well for our first games!,” Kiel said. “I got hurt a little so it messed me up but it was a great learning experiment.

“I sprained my thumb,” she added. “(Assistant) coach (Amy) King said I hyper-extended it and I kept playing the next game. It’s just swollen.”

With a huge chunk of her varsity roster playing at that level for the first time Saturday, CHS coach Breanne Smedley came away pleased with her player’s growth.

“The jamboree was a great opportunity to get a jersey on and play in a match-like situation before the season starts,” Smedley said. “We were able to work out some kinks and get used to playing together.”

“I am very proud of their first showing,” she added. “Our focus this week in practice was serving, passing, and serve receive rotations. We did all of these things very well. Overall, I think this is a great starting point for us to improve on.”

CHS travels to Langley Tuesday for a non-conference match with the Falcons (JV 5:15/varsity 7:00), before making its home debut Thursday against Friday Harbor (3:30/5:00).