Willow Leedy-Bonifas prepares to unleash hot death on her rivals. (Jackie Saia photo)
Things ended prematurely.
Unable to lock into a consistent killer mode Monday, the Coupeville High School varsity volleyball squad was swept out of the playoffs by a suddenly hot Friday Harbor team.
Led by the thunderous spikes of sophomore Kristina Girvan, the Wolverines, who started the season 1-6, have now gone 5-2 in the second half.
That run includes beating Orcas Island in the regular season finale to claim the last berth to the District 1/2 tourney, followed by postseason wins over Summit Atlas and Coupeville at the CHS gym in Monday’s three-team tilt.
The Wolverines had little trouble with Summit, sweeping an overmatched foe off the floor 25-8, 25-9, 25-8, before returning to the floor and avenging two regular-season losses to the Wolves by KO’ing their hosts 25-18, 25-22, 26-24.
Friday Harbor advances to play at Auburn Adventist Academy Tuesday, while Mount Vernon Christian hosts La Conner, kicking off a double-elimination rumble which will ultimately send two teams on to the 2B state tourney.
Coupeville, which was the #2 seed from District 1 behind MVC, ends its season at 8-8.
While that’s an improvement on last year’s 5-10-1 finish, the season ended in a way Scout Smith and her spikers were not planning on.
Lexis Drake protects the net. (Jacob Lujan photo)
In both of the regular season bouts with Friday Harbor, things were close, but CHS won the eye test as the better team, able to control the net and pull away each time the scrappy Wolverines made a run.
Not so much Monday, as Girvan slipped free time and again and unleashed some nasty lasers over, around, and sometimes straight through the outstretched arms of the Wolf blockers.
The first set, as expected, was a brawl, with neither team able to pull away as Coupeville clung to a 15-14 lead midway through.
Haylee Armstrong and Willow Leedy-Bonifas cracked off ferocious serves, while Zariyah Allen, Kennedy O’Neill, and Tenley Stuurmans won battles at the net, with the Wolves fighting frantically for every point.
One rally in particular stood out, as Leedy-Bonifas made a sweet running save on a wayward ball, setting up Lexis Drake for a well-placed kill to push the Wolverines back on their heels.
Unfortunately for Coupeville, the visitors found their stride while leaning back, ripping off nine straight points to turn a slugfest into a romp.
Rhylee Inman stopped the bleeding for a brief moment with a winner at the net set up by Stuurmans flying out of bounds while flipping the volleyball back over her head, but Girvan walloped a bullet at set point to deliver an emotional sucker punch for Friday Harbor.
Rhylee Inman rises up to deliver a kill. (Jackie Saia photo)
Down a set after sweeping the Wolverines the first two times around, Coupeville sputtered to open the second frame.
But trailing 8-2, CHS got a badly needed boost from Armstrong, who peppered Friday Harbor with low, screaming serves o’ death, ripping off four straight points to give the home team life.
Not that you would know it from a decidedly lackluster Wolf student section, which spent much of the night being shouted down by a handful of visiting parents before finally coming to life late in the match.
Friday Harbor survived Armstrong’s heroics and actually stretched the lead back out to 22-14 before Coupeville put together its best sustained run of the night.
The key?
Haylee the Hammer returning to the service stripe.
The senior standout made life difficult on the Wolverines, mixing saucy aces with balls which the visitors popped up, only to watch be promptly put back down by Drake and Stuurmans.
With Armstrong playing like a wild woman in a bid to keep her high school volleyball career going, Coupeville got all the way back to 22-22 … only to see Friday Harbor slip away with a mini 3-0 run to go up two sets to none.
Coupeville senior Haylee Armstrong delivered a stellar performance in her high school volleyball swan song. (Jackie Saia photo)
Backs to the wall, the Wolves scrapped hard in what would be the final frame of the season, and, finally, the student section took control of its own gym, creating a wall of noise as Coupeville led for most of the set.
Arianna Cunningham whaled on a ball, sending a spike skidding across the court to kick things off, followed by Drake and Stuurmans mashing winners into teeny-tiny gaps in the defense.
At the service line, fab frosh Allen and Inman came up big, combining to win seven points as CHS got the lead out to 16-9, and seemed to still be in control up 20-15.
It wasn’t to be, however, as Friday Harbor tied things up at 20-20, fell back behind at 21-20 after O’Neill sliced a winner, then surged ahead at 24-22.
Coupeville fought off two match points to prolong things, but match point #3 ended in a familiar fashion, with Girvan rising up and blasting one final, brutal kill right down the heart of the court to send her squad on to the next round.
The Wolves, who started the season 1-4 after several hard-fought non-conference losses, showed great growth as the second season with Scout Smith at the head of the program played out.
Coupeville won seven of its last 11 matches, including nabbing victories against traditional powers La Conner and Forks, while pushing undefeated Northwest 2B/1B League champs Darrington to five sets in a narrow loss.
Three seniors — Haylee Armstrong, Lexis Drake, and Capri Anter — graduate, while freshman Rhylee Inman and her family are moving out of state at the end of the school year.
Current juniors Tenley Stuurmans, Arianna Cunningham, Isa Mc Fetridge, and Willow Leedy-Bonifas, sophomore Kennedy O’Neill, and dynamic freshman Zariyah Allen can all return next fall.
Monday stats:
Zariyah Allen — 5 kills, 1 dig, 1 solo block
Capri Anter — 7 digs, 1 assist, 2 aces
Haylee Armstrong — 4 digs, 7 assists, 6 aces
Arianna Cunningham — 7 kills, 9 digs
Lexis Drake — 5 kills, 3 digs
Rhylee Inman — 3 kills, 1 dig, 2 aces
Willow Leedy-Bonifas — 8 digs, 1 assist
Kennedy O’Neill — 2 kills, 6 digs
Tenley Stuurmans — 5 kills, 6 digs, 12 assists, 1 ace
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