Coupeville Sports

There was pain in the thousand-yard stares, in the slump of their shoulders, in the shiners under their eyes.

But there was pride, too.

Strong, feisty, whip-smart, deeply committed to each other, in good times and rough times, Coupeville’s varsity volleyball players were undone, but unbowed.

They were battered, exhausted, numb, trapped in an unfair ending to what has been a brilliant season.

But they never took a knee. They stood tall, as individuals and a team, united for life.

The eight splendid seniors on the Coupeville High School volleyball squad, their four fast-rising underclassmen teammates, and their coaching staff, didn’t get the reward they deserved Tuesday night.

A team which tied the program’s single-season win record fell twice in day two of the District 1 tournament, nipped in a pair of five-set thrillers in which the Wolves actually won more points than both their foes.

Up two sets to one in both matches, Coupeville couldn’t hold on against either dangerous Meridian or plucky Sultan, and fell just short of advancing to bi-districts.

The hurt is real, physical and emotional.

Speaking as an admittedly biased observer, the Wolves deserved to keep playing.

They left every last ounce of sweat on the court this season, fought with everything they had in their hearts and souls, both Tuesday and in the two months leading up to the finale.

Finishing 14-5, the 2019 Wolves tie the 2004 CHS squad for wins.

That they didn’t get to 15 victories stings.

But it doesn’t erase everything which came before.

It can’t, because these young women are too strong, too talented.

This season, this high school volleyball experience, was a huge part of their lives. The mix of joy and pain will be with them for a very long time.

Scout Smith. Zoe Trujillo. Maya Toomey-Stout. Willow Vick. Hannah Davidson. Raven Vick. Emma Mathusek. Lucy Sandahl. Lucy Tenore. Kylie Chernikoff. Chelsea Prescott. Maddie Vondrak.

Twelve young women who soared athletically.

Twelve young women who helped take their program to new heights, on and off the floor.

Twelve young women who reached out to the next generation of Coupeville spikers, through clinics and through the positive image they showcased each time they pulled on their Wolf uniforms.

Twelve young women, who I hope can embrace the words of their head coach, Cory Whitmore.

“We had a beautiful season, and our seniors had beautiful careers. I hope they remember the success they had and think of it fondly, instead of being fixated on how it ended.”

It was a season in which the Wolves went 8-2 in North Sound Conference play, losing only to undefeated King’s, claiming second-place in the six-team league for a second consecutive year.

Coupeville also prospered despite a lopsided schedule which sent it on the road for 11 of 19 matches, finishing a very-strong 9-2 in road rumbles.

The season ended for the Wolves in their own gyms, backed by the roar of a packed, pro-Coupeville crowd.

In the end, CHS held a 206-184 edge in points Tuesday, beating Sultan 107-89 and Meridian 99-95. It wasn’t enough, however.

Meridian, which hails from the always-tough 1A/2A/3A Northwest Conference, is led by splendid sophomore setter Malaysia Smith (daughter of former CHS boys basketball coach Anthony Smith), and upset Lynden Christian, the #4 ranked team in 1A, earlier this season.

And yet the Wolves almost took them down, before falling 25-22, 13-25, 17-25, 25-17, 15-10.

The opening frame set the tone for the match, with both teams swinging from their heels, swapping leads and highlight reel-worthy plays.

There were seven ties, the final at 21-21, and Coupeville had a four-point lead halfway through the set.

Sparked by a beautiful tip winner off of Davidson’s dangerous fingers, followed by back-to-back Earth-shaking kills by Trujillo, the Wolves were rumbling.

Meridian chased down a lot of shots which seemed like sure winners, however, and fought back to take the lead.

Proving they could also employ a bold, never-say-die style, the Wolves got a wicked service ace from Raven Vick, which crawled up a rival player’s arm and kissed her violently on the cheek as it skidded past.

Trujillo was playing out of her mind in the opening set, coming up with a sizzlin’ batch of kills, with the most electrifying one staving off a set point.

While Meridian escaped with a first-set win, Coupeville seized control of the match after that, using long, successful runs at the service line from Raven Vick, Toomey-Stout, and Prescott to thrash Meridian in the second frame.

Prescott, just recently returned to action after missing a month with a leg injury, ripped off eight straight points on her serve to ice the set.

She got some help from her teammates, with Smith making a spectacular save while flat on the floor, and Mathusek pulling another ball off the top of her shoelaces to keep a point alive.

With the crowd getting louder, and Meridian showing signs of cracking, the Wolves pushed their advantage in the third set, mixing zingers on their serve with mighty blasts on their kills.

Maddie Vondrak, living up to the potential nickname of “The Mad Masher,” abused the volleyball, then danced away, grinning and pumping her hands in the air, while Toomey-Stout flat-out knocked the air out of the orb with each hit.

But Meridian didn’t get to where it’s at by giving up, and the Trojans dug down deep to get back in the match.

Other than a couple sweet service winners from Sandahl, and a brutal slicer by Trujillo which peeled the skin off of a Meridian player’s arms as she tried, and failed, to return the ball, most of the fourth set highlights came courtesy the visitors.

All of which set up the first, but not last, fifth set the Wolves would play this season.

Mathusek, maybe the most underrated player on the roster, doesn’t get much of the stat glory, but she has been indispensable as the team’s libero.

The glue which holds together the Wolves, she was as good Tuesday as she’s ever been, and a play at the start of the final set showcased why.

Meridian had the point won, and yet Mathusek, sliding across the floor, got her fist under the ball at the last split-second, flipped it skyward, then narrowly avoided crashing into a falling teammate.

Given new life, the Wolves not only kept the play alive, but won the point, with Toomey-Stout pulling the trigger on a nasty kill a few second later.

Off to the side, Mathusek jumped, pumped her fist, then quietly went back to being quietly awesome, the perfect unsung, but not unrecognized, warrior.

A 3-0 lead for CHS slipped into a 3-3 tie, then 4-4, then 5-5, then 6-6, before things slipped away from the Wolves.

Davidson delivered a rolling roundhouse of a kill late, but it was one play, when Coupeville needed, and couldn’t quite find, two or three at the very end of crunch time.

Their backs to the wall after the loss, needing a win to keep their season alive and capture a ticket to bi-districts, the Wolves moved from the CHS gym to the smaller, steamier CMS gym, and showed no signs of a letdown.

But it wasn’t enough in a frustrating 26-24, 10-25, 13-25, 25-21, 15-12 loss that brought an unexpected end to a rollicking season.

Coupeville came out hot, stayed hot, and led through 98.7% of the first set.

It was just that last 1.3% which hurt, and hurt badly.

Up 23-17, the Wolves seemingly put point #24 in the books, only to have the Turks somehow scrape the ball off the floor, force an intense rally, and end things with a stunning block.

Given new life, Sultan shocked the fans, and even themselves a little bit, by closing the set on a 9-1 run, and suddenly Coupeville found itself in an unexpected hole.

To which the Wolves immediately responded, savaging the Turks in spectacular fashion over the next two sets.

The second frame was all-Prescott, all the time, as the Wolf junior opened the set with a scorching ace, then closed things with a run of 12 straight points on her serve.

That surge featured Tenore, the fab frosh who is the bright future of the program, delivering a knee-buckling kill, and Toomey-Stout erasing the back line from existence by blasting a winner which tore all the paint off said line.

If the second set was quick and brutal, the third set was almost identical, a merry mix of big hits from Vondrak, artful tips from Davidson, and superb serves from Raven Vick.

Victory was in sight, but the Turks, the #5 seed from the North Sound Conference, are the Cinderella team of these playoffs, having already eliminated third-seeded Cedar Park Christian.

Proving it wasn’t a fluke, Sultan toppled Coupeville, the #2 seed, by being patient, keeping everything in play, and getting some major paint peelers from its big hitter in the front row.

Coupeville trailed from start to finish in the fourth set, and while the Wolves held off four set points, this was a night which begged to go on and on forever.

Anxious to get their second and third set mojo back, the Wolves came up empty in the 10th set they played Tuesday night.

Playing to 15, there were three ties, at 6-6, 7-7, and, finally, 12-12, but otherwise Coupeville was fighting from behind at every other instance in the final frame.

Sultan lost its opener Tuesday in three quick sets to Nooksack Valley, and seemed far fresher at the end, with more of a spring in their collective steps.

The Wolves looked tired, and kills which once seemed automatic went long, or fell into the net at the very end.

Sandahl, making her final trip to the stripe as a high school player, gave CHS a fighting chance with a couple sharp serves, but Coupeville couldn’t hold off the end as it came creeping steadily closer.

The season closed with a loss, yes. But it didn’t close with losers.

Twelve young women, under the guidance of Whitmore and assistant coaches Chris Smith and Krimson Rector, rose to new heights.

Conquered new worlds.

Continued to lay the foundation for a resurgent program, winners of 49 varsity matches in the past four seasons, primed for more success moving forward.

They walked out of their gym winners, no matter what the scoreboard might say.

I hope they always remember that.