Valen Trujillo, seen here in an earlier match, spent much of Tuesday scraping balls off the floor to keep rallies alive. (John Fisken photo)
It was not a perfect night, by any stretch of the imagination, but the seeds of progress continue to be sewn.
While the Coupeville High School volleyball squad fell in four tough sets to visiting Bellevue Christian Tuesday, the Wolves were able to come away with their share of positives.
A couple of cold stretches, and some unexpected struggles at the service stripe, ultimately sent CHS to a 22-25, 25-10, 25-21, 25-21 loss.
The non-conference defeat evens Coupeville’s record at 2-2 on the still-young season.
“There was not a whole lot of cohesion tonight,” said Wolf coach Cory Whitmore. “We missed some uncharacteristic serves at times that killed our momentum.
“And yet, we also had some really good serves at other times, such as in the first set,” he added. “Our service game was a doubled-edged sword.”
Even though Coupeville won the first set, Whitmore actually was more impressed with how his team played in the remaining sets, refusing to go down easily to a virtually error-free Vikings squad.
“I was impressed with our energy after the second set,” he said. “We’ll get back in the gym and tweak some things and look to keep our defensive intensity high.”
The Wolves trailed only once in the opening set (at 7-6) and rode several booming spikes from super-charged Hope Lodell to take the lead for good.
Once it was ahead, Coupeville mixed big kills (Tiffany Briscoe blasting one into the corner) with precision tips (Emma Smith tip-toeing through the air, her long, graceful fingers perfectly guiding the ball into open space) to put the set away.
The Wolves also got a bit of help on set point, when one Viking awkwardly ran over another, causing the girl in front to lurch forward and whiff on a spike.
Bellevue Christian pulled itself back together quickly though, using a 17-3 run to close out the second set and knot things up.
Mikayla Elfrank had a nice put-away and Lodell was droppin’ lasers from all angles, but the Wolves genuinely struggled for a long stretch of time in the second set, with miscommunication and poor hitting choices derailing their efforts.
The final two sets were more of an all-out war, as Coupeville upped its game and Bellevue responded.
The Wolves held leads in both sets (6-5 in the third and 14-11 in the fourth), but couldn’t hold off the Vikings, who, while not overly dynamic, were terribly consistent.
Allison Wenzel had a gorgeous tip for a winner, Smith had back-to-back winners on powerhouse swings and Briscoe came up big on several plays to highlight Coupeville’s final stand.
“Tiffany Briscoe is working really hard and adapting well to playing a new position,” Whitmore said. “She has been, by far, our best-producing right side hitter.”
Lodell, who spent most of the match hopping around like she had springs in her shoes, paced the Wolves with seven kills, while Smith and Briscoe uncorked three apiece.
Valen Trujillo (14), Payton Aparicio (12) and Lodell (7) racked up big dig numbers, helping keep CHS in the match with their ability to keep points going.
The ultimate example of that came early in the fourth set, when Lodell sprinted off the court on a dead run, spearing a ball and redirecting it back into play a millisecond away from crashing head-first into the Bellevue cheering section.
Coupeville has a chance to get back on a winning streak when it hosts North Mason Thursday (varsity 4:00/JV and C-Team 5:15).
The non-conference tilt will cap a five-match, season-opening home stand.
Coupeville Sports 
Leave a comment