Coupeville Sports

   Emma Mathusek, seen here before a recent match, was one of many Wolf JV spikers to have a standout match Tuesday. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

When “The Gazelle” is ready to graze, just pray you don’t get chewed up and spit out.

Off the volleyball court, Coupeville High School sophomore Maya Toomey-Stout is a walkin’, talkin’ slice of friendliness.

On the court, however, she will go Mafia hit man on your posterior and smile as you bleed out.

And that’s a wonderful thing.

Mixing kills that carved chunks of flesh off of rival player’s bodies as they skidded by, with serves which sucked the life out of anyone tasked with trying to return them, Toomey-Stout and Co. were unstoppable Tuesday afternoon.

Crushing visiting Sequim 25-7, 27-25, 25-11, the Wolf JV spikers smartly rebounded from their only loss of the season, improving to 7-1 under first-year coach Chris Smith.

Coupeville’s young guns are a flawless 3-0 on their home floor now, and they looked like a squad anxious to make a good impression on their fan base.

With Lucy Sandahl, Raven Vick and Emma Mathusek throwing down quality runs at the service stripe to kick things off, the Wolves roared out to a 14-3 lead in the first set and the rout was on.

Savannah Smith recorded the match’s first point, soaring above the net to stuff a Sequim player. Three points later she was back, this time burying a spike off the back corner in a manner reminiscent of big sis Emma.

With the exception of one point, a long rally on which both teams came up with miracle saves, Coupeville shut down any long back-and-forths in the opening set.

Chelsea Prescott, who knocked down a winner on a tip she launched over her head like a basketball hook shot, closed out the opening set with a couple of smokin’ aces and everything was one-sided.

Until it wasn’t.

Sequim crawled off the mat in the second set, riding a suddenly-aggressive service game to a surprise 11-3 lead.

Enter “The Gazelle” and exit any hopes of a true comeback for the visitors.

Toomey-Stout stopped the bleeding with a service ace which shot across the net, then dipped and exploded, all but tearing off a Sequim player’s foot as it impacted.

From there, it became a wild mix of Wolf aces (Vick ritually abused Sequim all night while on serve) and big hits.

In one stretch of five straight winners, Toomey-Stout, Zoe Trujillo and Maddie Vondrak took turns crushing the air out of the volleyball, each spike landing with a slightly bigger bang than the one before it.

Vondrak’s shot was a thing of rare beauty, launched at an awkward angle as she scrambled to save the ball, but landing with utter precision in the deepest, darkest corner of the court for a surprise winner.

Having battled back from a large deficit, CHS fought off two set points, with Vick dropping a bomb for a winner while trapped in the middle of the court, followed by Toomey-Stout (who else?) crunching another ace.

Whatever fight Sequim had in the second set evaporated quickly after that.

The final set was an I-see-your-spike-and-raise-you-a-bigger-spike duel between Wolf teammates Prescott, Smith, Trujillo, Vick and, especially, an exuberant (and frequently air-borne) Toomey-Stout.

On Sequim’s side of the court? Shell shock and thousand-yard stares as they prayed to make it back to the bus in one piece.

Beautiful.