Lucy Tenore and friends participated in a summer volleyball team camp at Western Washington University. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
No off-season.
Coming off a second-place finish in their first season back in the Northwest 2B/1B League, the Coupeville High School volleyball coaches and players continue to put in the work.
Nine Wolves made the trek to Western Washington University recently for the school’s annual summer team camp, and the lessons learned should pay huge dividends down the road.
“We improved our cohesion and ability to play out-of-system, which is always a big obstacle to overcome with any new team,” CHS coach Cory Whitmore said.
“Our communication became more productive and with four seniors from the previous season no longer with us, our new leadership was a huge part of our focus.
“I believe each player that attended camp improved at their particular role.”
Returning varsity vets Lucy Tenore, Jill Prince, Maddie Georges, Alita Blouin, Abby Mulholland, Ryanne Knoblich, and Gwen Gustafson were joined by Olivia Schaffeld and Lyla Stuurmans.
“It’s a relatively smaller group to take to camp and meet the physical and mental challenges of four days of drills and scrimmaging and tournament matches,” Whitmore said. “Very few substitutes and for some, none at all.
“I’m really proud of not only how they held up through the challenges, but how they progressed through them.”
Whitmore praised the effort of all nine players, with a special emphasis on three.
“A couple to mention would be Alita playing virtually non-stop through a back injury that is in rehab,” he said. “Maddie for being the only setter, so scrambling and moving constantly to help her teammates.
“And Lyla, a freshman, having to learn the rotations at an accelerated rate in addition to playing a full six rotations for the team.”
With the pandemic receding, the hope is for a normal fall high school volleyball season to kick off the 2021-2022 school year, with Coupeville chasing two-time defending state champ La Conner.
The battle is eternal, and Whitmore is ready.
“We have a great foundation to take into the fall and we definitely left camp stronger than we entered it,” he said.
“This is a fun group to work with, and I’m looking forward to continue our team development to finish out the summer.”
Coupeville Sports 
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