Vivian Farris was sensational Thursday, as she and the Wolf C-Team pulled off a truly stunning comeback win. (Brian Vick photos)
“We’re just here to take all the wins, baby!!”
Al Michaels called. He doesn’t believe it.
The announcer who gave the world “Do you believe in miracles?” ran out of words when confronted with what went down in South Whidbey’s #2 gym Thursday night.
Down a set and coming back to win? Sure.
Facing 12 consecutive match points and fighting them all off? Um…
Pulling together as a team and playing absolute flawless volleyball for five torrid minutes, the Coupeville High School C-Team volleyball squad shocked the crowd (and anyone reading this), while ripping out the collective hearts of their next door neighbors.
Reading the score, which came out 19-25, 25-16, 28-26 in favor of the Wolves doesn’t do it total justice.
And, as fate would have it, I wasn’t in the room for this one, as both the Coupeville JV and C-Team were playing at the same time, and I chose the main gym, where there was a pretty intense match-up of its own.
But the C-Team squad dodging death, destruction and what would have been its first loss to anyone other than the juggernaut known as King’s, was obviously the match of the night.
Possibly of the season.
“I can’t feel my face!”
“Is this real life?”
“Oh lord, where’s my pacemaker???”
“I’m just saying, there should be a 2-for-1 deal on hot dogs for all Wolf fans after that one…”
All pertinent comments coming out of the mouths of dazed, confused and deliriously happy Coupeville fans as they exited the side gym to rejoin their brethren in the big room.
The win lifts the Wolf spikers to 6-1 in league play, 7-1 overall, but is bigger, much bigger.
This is the kind of victory, the kind of jolt to the psyche of all involved, which can launch a thousand future celebrations.
Bouncing back from an early deficit, one of the few they have faced this season, Krimson Rector’s squad of furious fightin’ freshmen came roaring back multiple times.
A dominating performance in set two evened things up, but the Falcons seemed to have recovered, up 24-12 in the third frame, needing just a single, solitary point to get over the top.
It was a point which never came, as Wolf Vivian Farris, channeling the spirit of Lauren Rose, the calmest server in CHS volleyball history, went off on a tear at the line.
One point, two points, five points, the collar constricting around every Falcon’s neck, and the “we’ve got this” spirit growing in the soul of each Coupeville player.
All the way back to 24-24 the Wolves came, and then the two squads went at it in the middle of the ring, pounding shots to the ribs and refusing to fall.
Mercedes Kalwies-Anderson came up with big plays for CHS, and then the battlin’ Lucero twins, Allie and Maya, sealed the deal.
The final point was a wild one, with a return allegedly bouncing off a basketball backboard, before Coupeville put South Whidbey out of its misery.
At least for the moment.
Ten years from now, when a random Falcon player thinks back on this night, she may start screaming for no reason.
It’s possible. Very possible.
For the Wolves however, for Rector and her rampaging crew of win-happy big hitters, this will be one for the memory books.
The cold hard facts will show Ryanne Knoblich led the air attack, smacking seven kills, while Jordyn Rogers (3), Kalwies-Anderson (2), Farris (1), and Allie Lucero (1) all chipped in.
At the line, Gwen Gustafson popped a team-best four service aces, with Rogers, Farris, and Maya Lucero throwing down three apiece.
But, as is always the case with epic matches like this, it’s about more than just the stats.
It’s about Gustafson charging out of the side gym and bear-hugging a teammate as she told her the final score.
It’s about the Lucero twins, relating the tale of the final, frantic moments, words tumbling out, then dissolving into huge smiles as dad Aaron beamed like the sun over the Serengeti.
It’s about Rector, poppin’ gum and pumpin’ fists, as she rambled into the big gym to join fellow Wolf coaches Cory Whitmore and Chris Smith for the varsity contest.
It’s about the future of Coupeville volleyball. A future which seems to have few limitations.
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