Valen Trujillo rolled to a 6-0, 6-1 win at first singles Thursday. (John Fisken photo)
They kept the fans on their edge of their seats.
Shuffling its roster to make up for two missing varsity players, the Coupeville High School girls’ tennis squad still came within a shot or two of upending 2A Sequim Thursday.
It wasn’t to be, however, as the visitors made off with a 4-3 win in a squeaker played under surprisingly sunny skies.
Now 0-2 on the young season, after facing two tough non-conference foes, Coupeville is slated to open defense of its Olympic League crown next week when it faces Klahowya.
Thursday, the Wolves dominated the top of the order, grabbing wins at first singles and first and second doubles.
Senior Valen Trujillo, mixing in gorgeous drop shots with powerful ground strokes, romped to a win at #1 singles, then hung around to cheer on lil’ sis Zoe as she captured her first varsity win.
Zoe teamed up with fellow frosh phenom Avalon Renninger to knock off a pair of upperclassmen at #2 doubles in a match that saw slick shot-making from both sides of the net.
It was also a match in which both teams managed to have one player on each team blast their playing partner with a shot during live action.
Trujillo pasted Renninger with a shot at the net, and, while the duo were still giggling over it, Sequim’s Ella Christiansen bopped her partner in the back of the head with a slightly-misjudged overhead.
Other than those two miscues, the battle at second doubles was just that, a battle, as both teams sprinted from side to side, saving shots that appeared to be certain winners.
In the end, though, the fast-rising freshmen, with Trujillo slicing nasty serves and Renninger dominating at the net, were too much for their foes.
Avalon wasn’t the only member of her family to win, as big sis Sage teamed up with Payton Aparicio to remain unbeaten at first doubles.
With Sequim rolling to wins at #3 and #4 doubles, as well as #3 singles, the afternoon’s most important match came at #2 singles.
Foreign exchange student Fanny Deprelle, playing her second match as a Wolf, put up a sustained fight, battling back time and again, before ultimately falling in a second-set tiebreaker.
Complete results:
Varsity:
1st singles — Valen Trujillo beat Izzy Hugenoit 6-0, 6-1
2nd singles — Fanny Deprelle lost to Katie Wake 6-4, 7-6(7-3)
3rd singles — Maggie Crimmins lost to Emily Bundy 6-1, 6-3
1st doubles — Payton Aparicio/Sage Renninger beat Hannah D’Amico/Jessica Dietzman 6-1, 7-6(7-2)
2nd doubles — Zoe Trujillo/Avalon Renninger beat Tea Guthun/Ella Christiansen 6-4, 7-5
3rd doubles — Tia Wurzrainer/Claire Mietus lost to Amanda He/Ashley Rosales 6-0, 6-1
4th doubles — Sophie Furtjes/Julie Bucio lost to Courtney Gosset/Amber Dietzman 6-0, 6-2
JV:
5th doubles — Nanci Melendrez/Rubi Melendrez lost to Sadie Woods/Kayli Prorok 6-3
6th doubles — Maggie Crimmins/Jillian Mayne lost to Chloe Goldate/Hannah D’Amico 6-1
Coupeville Sports 