Haylee Armstrong is just here to deliver spikes and take names. (Michelle Armstrong photo)
First, a word about Olivia Martin and Isabella Bowder.
The current crop of Coupeville Middle School volleyball players, all 15 or so, approach the sport with a mixture of talent and hustle.
Wolf coaches Raven Vick and Cris Matochi have taught them well, and the confidence level grows with each match.
But, as I said, first a word about Martin and Bowder, who are in the sixth and eighth grade, respectively.
The duo may not be giants, but they have hearts which would indicate otherwise.
Watching Martin and Bowder over the course of Coupeville’s first three matches — including Monday’s tilt with visiting King’s — you can’t help but be impressed with how they approach every bit of time they get on the hardwood.
With no disrespect meant to the other Wolves, who are a scrappy, joyous pack, this duo is a titanic tandem.
Martin and Bowder sprint after every last incoming ball — even the ones destined to land far away — fling themselves across the floor, loudly cheer for their teammates, and get well-deserved vocal support back.
Monday, Martin, swinging from the bottom of her shoes to the top of her head, launched her first successful serves against a rival team, the ball zinging across the net and earning points for the Wolves.
Then she did the dance of her people, her face a portrait of pure joy.
It was the same with Bowder, springing across the floor in big bounds, fists pumping after each play.
“Izzy and Olivia are such great energy givers,” Vick said, a comment seconded by Matochi.
CMS may have other players who are further along in their volleyball development, but Martin and Bowder are the heart and soul of the program.
It’s players like them — young women who approach every match, every practice, every new skill, with gritty determination and unbounded joy — who make a program a true success.
So they, and their teammates deserve a shout-out from fans, and a “well-done” from their coaches, while knowing their parents go to bed proud of them each night.
With that said, on to Monday’s matches.
Willow Leedy-Bonifas (11) and Olivia Martin (4) await the serve. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
Varsity:
The mystique has cracked.
King’s still has the private school powerhouse brand-name on the jersey, but the Wolves never showed a single flicker of concern as they went toe-to-toe and shot-for-shot with the Knights.
Rallying time and again, CMS almost pulled off the upset before falling 25-23, 20-25, 15-11.
How close was it? In terms of total points, King’s edged the Wolves 60-59.
It’s the kind of thing which makes a coach want a rematch.
“We were never intimidated,” Matochi said. “Ooh, I would love to play them again.”
“We would give them a run!” Vick said, but a check of the schedule reveals just one rumble with King’s on this year’s eight-match schedule.
But, whether it’s next season on the CMS floor, or in high school, the two schools will meet again at some point, and these Wolves know they have nothing to fear.
Coupeville did start off surprisingly slow, falling behind 8-0 in the opening set without King’s doing anything all that special.
It just seemed like the Wolf varsity, now at seven players with the season debut of Myra McDonald, needed a moment or two to find its groove.
Then the spikes started landing, the serves started zipping, and things got much more interesting.
Tenley Stuurmans fired off three straight points on her serve to get CMS on the board, before Capri Anter came around to launch seven winners of her own from the stripe.
Anter’s run was aided by Haylee Armstrong slicing off kneecaps at the net, and Adeline Maynes flicking artfully placed tip winners which fell between Knight players.
Maynes went on her own torrid run at the service line, as CMS, all the way back from its early deficit, claimed its biggest lead at 21-19.
It wasn’t to be, however, as King’s scored the final three points of the set, turning a 23-22 deficit into a 25-23 win.
Coupeville had to fight from behind in the second set as well, though the biggest margin was five points, at 8-3.
Maynes was again on point with her serves, while Armstrong, smacking balls while airborne, pushed the Wolves back out in front.
From there Lexis Drake and Rhylin Price flashed their own brilliance at the stripe, with Drake whaling away on a set-busting five-point run on serve.
With Coupeville playing a third and deciding set for the third time in as many matches this season, the finale was set up to be a barnburner.
And it largely delivered, as Stuurmans lifted the Wolves to a 3-0 lead, before King’s flipped the script and grabbed control.
The final tie came at 7-7, thanks to Anter whacking a service ace off of a Knight player’s shoulder, followed by Armstrong launching a spike which landed in the final millimeter of space in the far right corner of the court.
Coupeville’s final highlight reel play pulled the Wolves back within 13-11.
Drake unleashed a booming serve, the two teams rallied, then Stuurmans, sneaking into position along the sideline, bounded into the air and redirected a tip into no-man’s land.
It wasn’t the last point of the match, maybe, but it was a perfect punctuation mark.
Alyssa McGee, seen here with bis sis Trinity, plays with great joy. (Angie McGee photo)
JV:
King’s showed up with both a second and third squad, so Martin, Bowder, and Co. played two matches in one day.
While the Wolves lost both bouts to the Knights, the extra floor time should pay dividends as the season progresses.
Willow Leedy-Bonifas was a rock for CMS, scoring multiple winners on well-placed shots, including one she flipped over her shoulder while her back was to the net.
Also coming up big were Emma Leavitt and Cheyanne Atteberry, who each rifled a nasty serve or two to keep the Knights leaning backwards.
Alexis Hewitt went to her knees to dig a ball off the floor, her return shot catching the net and flopping over for a Wolf point, while KeeArya Brown and Alyssa McGee chipped in with hustle and strong team spirit.
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