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Doubles duos rock the joint!!

Posted in Girls Tennis, tagged CHS Wolves, districts, Payton Aparicio, Sage Renninger, tennis on May 17, 2018| Leave a Comment »

Coupeville seniors Sage Renninger (left) and Payton Aparicio are off to state, the first Wolf girls tennis players to make the trip East since 2010. (Photos by CoupevillePaparazzi.com)

Wolf sophomores Avalon Renninger (left) and Tia Wurzrainer split four matches at districts, finishing 4th out of eight duos.

Pack the sunscreen, floppy hats and Gatorade, cause the Wolves are headed to Sun Stroke City.

And they’re thrilled about it.

Coupeville High School seniors Payton Aparicio and Sage Renninger will cap their stellar four-year run as a doubles duo by playing in the 1A/2B/1B girls tennis state championships in Yakima.

They punched their ticket to the big dance, where they’ll be playing on outdoor courts in 90-degree weather May 25-26, by placing 2nd Thursday at the West Central District 3 tourney.

Aparicio and Renninger are the first CHS girls tennis players to make it to state since 2010, when the Hard Court Assassin herself, Julia Sierra Castaño, advanced as a singles player.

You have to go back two years earlier, to 2008, to find the last time a Wolf female doubles duo (Megan Monroe and Hannah Merrell) played at state.

After sweeping two matches Wednesday, Aparicio and Renninger opened Thursday by playing for the district title.

While they fell 6-3, 6-0 to Cascade Christian sisters Grace and Kate Jung, the Wolves still had another opportunity to earn a ticket to state, and ending up coasting in without playing another point.

The battle for second pitted the loser of the final against the survivor of the loser’s bracket, UNLESS the two teams had already played.

In that case, the duo which won the first time around would get a walkover win.

And that’s how it played out, as Mei Ge and Casey Kim of Charles Wright Academy held off Coupeville’s sophomore sensations, Tia Wurzrainer and Avalon Renninger, 7-6, 6-4.

That nixed a chance for the trip to state coming down to CHS vs. CHS, and, since Ge and Kim lost to Aparicio and Sage Renninger Wednesday, the older Wolf duo were handed second place on the spot.

Coupeville’s young guns, who survived a loser-out match earlier Thursday, when they edged Maria Gonzalez and Abby Kwon of CWA 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, claimed 4th place out of eight doubles teams.

The two duos, and singles player Claire Mietus, who lost two matches Wednesday and was a fan on day two, helped Coupeville finish third in the team standings behind CWA and Vashon Island.

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Wolf duo one win from state!!

Posted in Girls Tennis, tagged CHS Wolves, districts, doubles, Sprinker Tennis Center, tennis on May 16, 2018| Leave a Comment »

Sage Renninger (left) and Payton Aparicio won both of their matches Wednesday at districts and are one victory from advancing to state. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

With day one in the books, netters (l to r) Sage Renninger, Claire Mietus, Aparicio, Avalon Renninger and Tia Wurzrainer enjoy a dinner break. (Photo by CoupevillePaparazzi.com)

If the Nisqually League thought it would stomp through the West Central District 3 girls tennis tourney with little push-back, surprise!

The Olympic League, and conference champ Coupeville in particular, is proving to be no push-over.

The Wolf netters, making a stand for public school players everywhere, combined for three wins Wednesday at the Sprinker Tennis Center in Tacoma.

Along the way, Coupeville came dangerously close to making Thursday’s doubles title match an all-Wolf affair.

CHS seniors Payton Aparicio and Sage Renninger, who came a win from advancing to state last year, are primed to punch their ticket in their final go-round.

The duo, who have been partners since day one of their freshman season, swept two matches from Charles Wright Academy foes.

The first win was capped when Aparicio drilled one of the rival players in the face on match point.

So, basically, an apt metaphor for public schools refusing to bow to private schools, which typically rule Washington state high school tennis.

Aparicio and Sage Renninger play sisters Grace and Kate Jung of Cascade Christian Thursday for the district title and a #1 seed to state.

The loser of the title bout will face the survivor of the loser’s bracket for District 3’s second berth to the big dance in Eastern Washington.

There was only one berth to state available last year.

Coupeville’s other doubles team, sophomores Avalon Renninger and Tia Wurzrainer, split two matches Wednesday, narrowly missing out on a trip to the finals.

The former is making her second-straight district tourney appearance, while the latter is debuting on the Tacoma courts, but they hit immediate pay dirt as a tandem, toppling a duo from Vashon.

While Avalon Renninger and Wurzrainer fell to the Jungs in the semifinals, they pushed them hard, with the first set knotted at 5-5 before their older rivals pulled away.

The duo is still alive and will aim to tear up the loser’s bracket Thursday, while Coupeville’s lone singles player will operate as a fan on day two.

Senior Claire Mietus ran into the tourney’s top player in the opening round, then faced off with an Olympic League rival in round two, dropping both matches.

Complete Wednesday results:

Claire Mietus:

Lost to Zoe Rose (Charles Wright Academy) 6-0, 6-0
Lost to Vilma Jurma (Port Townsend) 6-0, 6-0

Payton Aparicio/Sage Renninger:

Beat Maria Gonzalez/Abby Kwon (CWA) 7-5, 6-2
Beat Mei Ge/Casey Kim (CWA) 6-4, 7-5

Avalon Renninger/Tia Wurzrainer:

Beat Tobin Vaughn/Lizzy Sutherland (Vashon Island) 7-5, 6-3
Lost to Grace Jung/Kate Jung (Cascade Christian) 7-5, 6-0

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All our shots are winners!!

Posted in Girls Tennis, tagged 1A Olympic League, CHS Wolves, John Fisken photos, Maggie Crimmins, tennis on May 8, 2018| Leave a Comment »

Maggie Crimmins intently eyes her target as she prepares to unleash great pain and destruction on its fuzzy exterior. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.com)

Trapped in a war of lobs, Avalon Renninger launches a moon-ball.

Klahowya players (on left) mingle with Coupeville students who swung by to cheer on their classmates.

Kameryn St Onge peppers another winner.

CHS athletes from other sports ring the fence, showing support for the netters, who got to skip school Monday for the Olympic League tourney.

Heather Nastali’s radar tells her the ball is on the way to her waiting racket.

Freshman phenom Genna Wright slices ‘n dices.

Payton Aparicio eyes a third-straight league doubles crown while playing with longtime partner Sage Renninger.

Everyone was making shots.

From the players on the court, to the paparazzi moving from match to match, Monday offered a smorgasbord of action.

The Coupeville High School girls tennis team was hosting, and dominating, the 1A Olympic League tourney, while John Fisken (and his camera) was documenting the goings-on.

The pics seen above come to us courtesy him.

To see everything Fisken shot, pop over to:

https://www.johnsphotos.net/Sports/2017-2018-Coupeville-Tennis/2018-05-07-Olympic-League-Tournament/

And, when you do, remember, purchases help fund scholarships for CHS student/athletes.

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Five still alive!!

Posted in Girls Tennis, tagged 1A Olympic League, Chimacum, CHS Wolves, Klahowya Secondary School, Sage Renninger, tennis on May 7, 2018| Leave a Comment »

Sage Renninger, seen here in an earlier match, teamed with Payton Aparicio Monday to win a third straight Olympic League doubles crown. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

Vilma Jurma of Port Townsend, a Finnish foreign exchange student, placed second in singles at the league tourney.

Coupeville senior Claire Mietus claimed fourth in singles and advances to the district tourney for the first time.

It went just about flawlessly.

Pretty much everything clicked into place Monday as Coupeville High School hosted the 1A Olympic League girls tennis tourney.

The weather morphed from early clouds into blazing sun, which was great except for one poor Klahowya netter who sat up from her towel late in the day to be met by muffled screams from her teammates.

“You are a lobster! No, I mean a red, REEEEEDDDDDD lobster!!”

Meanwhile, school groundskeepers were able to shepherd some wayward geese from the premises before they had a chance to unleash machine-gun-style poop. Always a win.

In the midst of all of that, CHS coach/tourney director Ken Stange pulled off a tight, well-oiled event which was done in time to let rival teams catch the early ferry, with nary a trace of drama, on-court or off.

Coupeville, as undisputed four-time league champs, had the most entries, claiming nine of the 24 slots.

By the end of the day that had held up, as the Wolves won a doubles title, tied for top honors in the team scoring race, and advanced five netters to next week’s district tourney.

CHS seniors Payton Aparicio and Sage Renninger were the big winners, sweeping all three of their matches to claim a third straight doubles crown.

The team they beat in the final, Wolf sophomores Avalon Renninger and Tia Wurzrainer, played well above their seeding, taking out both of Klahowya’s doubles duos.

The youngest players to advance (eight seniors and two juniors will join them at districts), they had the match of the day.

That came in the semifinals, when Wurzrainer, whipping vicious cross-court returns and Avalon Renninger, peppering screaming left-handed winners, stomped on Klahowya’s #1 team.

“That! That was nice!!,” Stange said with a big grin as he strolled by in the aftermath.

The young Wolf duo benefited from the biggest cheering section of the day.

While school was in session Monday, many of their fellow athletes popped out during breaks, lunch or study hall.

Every Wolf had at least a few students on hand during their matches, but the clock timed out best for Avalon and Tia, who saw the bleachers jammed for their semifinal bout.

The two CHS doubles duos will be joined in Tacoma May 16-17 by senior singles player Claire Mietus, who is making her first trip to districts.

The top two finishers in singles and doubles at the two-day event, held at the Sprinker Tennis Center, advance to state.

Monday’s league tourney, which was missing Chimacum’s top two players, Renee Woods and Gladys Hitt, who had other commitments, opened with a winner-take-all first round.

Win a pro set and you were district bound, with later rounds (all best-two-of-three-sets) for deciding seeding. Lose and your season was done.

Wolf singles players Genna Wright and Heather Nastali and the doubles team of Kameryn St Onge and Maggie Crimmins fell in the first round.

Wright, who soared all the way to being Coupeville’s #1 player this season, is just a freshman, while the other three are seniors.

CHS sends five players to districts, while Klahowya (four, including singles champ Hailey Sargent), Chimacum (2) and Port Townsend (1) round out the Olympic League contingent.

Complete Coupeville results:

Genna Wright:

Lost to Maddy Rienks (Klahowya) 8-6

Claire Mietus:

Beat Makaela Caskey (Chimacum) 8-4
Lost to Vilma Jurma (Port Townsend) 6-1, 6-3
Lost to Rienks (Kla) 6-3, 6-0

Heather Nastali:

Lost to Jurma (PT) 8-0

Payton Aparicio/Sage Renninger:

Beat Chiara Vignale/Claudia Garfis (PT) 8-0
Beat Grace Yaley/Chloe Patterson (Chim) 6-3, 6-0
Beat Avalon Renninger/Tia Wurzainer (Coup) 6-0, 6-0

Avalon Renninger/Tia Wurzrainer:

Beat Anna Wells/Kelisha Harris (Kla) 8-0
Beat Taylor Bruce/Marianne Marker (Kla) 6-2, 6-3
Lost to Aparicio/S. Renninger (Coup) 6-0, 6-0

Maggie Crimmins/Kameryn St Onge:

Lost to Yaley/Patterson (Chim) 9-7

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You blew it, Klahowya! You blew it!!

Posted in Baseball, Boys Soccer, Girls Tennis, Softball, tagged 1A Olympic League, baseball, boys soccer, CHS Wolves, girls tennis, league champs, Softball on May 5, 2018| Leave a Comment »

In the end, they all bow down to Cow Town. (Photo by Shelli Trumbull)

I could be nice and sugar-coat things, but facts are facts.

The 1A Olympic League has come to a close after a four-year run, and the smallest school emerges as the top dog.

Sparked by an extremely strong final spring, in which it won conference crowns in softball, girls track, baseball, girls tennis and boys track, Coupeville High School has stared down Port Townsend, Chimacum, and, especially, Klahowya.

CHS had 227 students in grades 9-11 when the WIAA last did classification counts in 2016, which made it the sixth-smallest 1A school in the state.

That figure has since dropped to 208, which caused Coupeville officials to make a recent plea to drop to 2B which fell on deaf ears.

Klahowya boasted 445.07 students in ’16, making it the second-biggest 1A school in the state.

So, you take what is essentially a 2A school and pit it against what is essentially a 2B school, and what happens?

The lil’ school that could, did.

For the past four years, I have tracked 10 of the 11 varsity sports that the Wolves play.

In this scenario, we ignore track, since trying to figure out team win/loss records when 30 teams show up for a meet is a futile, and brain-injury-causing, endeavor.

So, we take volleyball, football, girls and boys basketball, soccer and tennis, softball and baseball and we watch.

And, in the course of four school years, we see a 24-game swing as one (small) school rises and another (big) school falls.

Varsity win totals:

2014-2015:

Klahowya 51
COUPEVILLE 40
Chimacum 23
Port Townsend 20

2015-2016:

Klahowya 45
COUPEVILLE 42
Chimacum 26
Port Townsend 22

2016-2017:

COUPEVILLE 51
Klahowya 48
Port Townsend 28
Chimacum 25

2017-2018:

COUPEVILLE 52
Klahowya 39
Port Townsend 26
Chimacum 20

Add together the four years and Coupeville beats Klahowya 185-183.

CHS was the only school to post 40 or more varsity wins in each school year, and the only school to post 50 or more wins twice.

To those who say, well, it’s only two games, let’s go back to the first numbers, the student body size — 445.07 vs 227 that became 208.

Klahowya should have dominated, pure and simple, and it didn’t.

In the early days of the league, KSS was the straw which stirred the drink, though the whirlpool created wasn’t anywhere as large as you would have expected.

And give the Eagles soccer teams credit.

The only Olympic League programs to go unbeaten in league play from 2014-2018, their combined 59 wins account for nearly a third of Klahowya’s varsity win total.

But, ultimately, the smallest, scrappiest school took over and made the Olympic League its own.

Coupeville finished with the best league record in four sports, the most of any school — girls tennis, baseball, girls basketball and boys tennis — with girls hoops winning 33 games, most of any program, in any sport.

Better still, CHS was the ONLY school to not finish as the worst in any sport.

Klahowya, by contrast, accrued the top all-time mark in three sports, but finished dead last in three others.

What’s this all mean in the end?

As Coupeville departs for new pastures and new challenges next year in the six-team North Sound Conference, its current rivals can take solace in two facts.

One, you won’t have to listen to me natter on as often (if ever).

And two, you won’t have to lose as often to the Wolves.

So, win-win … sorta.

Spring sports standings:

Olympic League baseball: