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Wolves reclaim that winning feeling!!

Posted in Volleyball, tagged , , , , on October 5, 2018| Leave a Comment »

Wolf libero Emma Mathusek got a rare chance to shine at the service stripe Thursday during Coupeville’s three-set rout of Port Townsend. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Every woman on deck.

Bouncing back from its first loss of the season with a vengeance, the Coupeville High School varsity volleyball squad thrashed visiting Port Townsend Thursday in a match in which all 11 players saw major floor time.

Two days after falling on the road to King’s, the defending 1A state champs, the Wolves returned home and sailed to a 25-13, 25-14, 25-14 non-league win, kicking their season record to a sweet 6-1.

They get a few days off now before traveling to Sultan Tuesday, Oct. 9 to face a Turks squad which is mired in last-place in the North Sound Conference at 0-4.

That match will mark the halfway point in league play for Coupeville (3-1), which has sole possession of second-place in the six-team conference.

Thursday’s match offered the Wolves a chance to rekindle a rivalry with one of their former mates in the Olympic League, though CHS was not in a charitable mood.

In control from the first serve of the night until the final play, a dazzling hook shot winner thrown down by a suddenly sky-high Scout Smith, Coupeville had plenty of opportunity to experiment, tweak things, and, most importantly, get back that winning feeling.

Even better, they did it while getting swing players Lucy Sandahl, Zoe Trujillo, Maddie Vondrak and Raven Vick their most extensive varsity playing time of the season, and all four came through with big plays.

“I’m excited to see how we adapted with different lineups,” said CHS coach Cory Whitmore. “Everyone on the team has been working really hard in practice, and it was good to get everyone in, and give them an opportunity to show what they can do in live play.”

Coupeville came out firing on all cylinders, with big hitters Emma Smith and Maya Toomey-Stout torching the RedHawks early with ferocious spikes.

With their foes a bit on their heels, the Wolves took advantage, riding a hot streak at the service line from Ashley Menges, who reeled off seven straight points, to blow the lead out to 15-3.

Whitmore mixed things up almost immediately, having three of his swing players serve in the opening set, with a Vick bomb setting up a weak return which Chelsea Prescott promptly whacked into the far corner for a winner.

The second set was more of the same, with Emma Smith dropping a blistering spike for a winner, in between two plays on which she used her height and leaping ability to soar above the net and flick tips in between defenders.

Scout Smith and Menges ran off six points apiece on serve, while Hannah Davidson came bounding out of nowhere on one play to snare the ball with her fingertips and spin it between a pair of RedHawks who both swung and whiffed.

The final frame offered Trujillo and Emma Mathusek a chance to shine at the service line.

Trujillo ripped off four straight serves on which the RedHawks managed to touch (not return) just one, then Mathusek, the hardest-working libero in the biz, got a bit of sweet reward for all her digs and floor burns.

Given the ball and free reign at the line for the first time this season, Mathusek fired off a truly nasty ace which ripped a hole in the court, then her second serve set up Trujillo for a tip winner which froze the defense.

While few of the Wolves spent their usual amount of time on the floor, Toomey-Stout nailed a match-high 12 kills and collected five digs.

Scout Smith, showing off her rapidly-expanding repertoire of sets (including a fair amount of set-ups created while bounding skyward), collected 16 assists to go with five service aces.

Menges (seven aces), Mathusek (six digs), Prescott (four digs), Emma Smith (three kills) and Trujillo (three aces) all chipped in to crafting an extremely-balanced stat sheet.

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Izzy Wells can’t be stopped!!

Posted in Volleyball, tagged , , , , , , on October 4, 2018| Leave a Comment »

Freshman Izzy Wells reeled off 16 straight points on her serve Thursday as the Wolf JV volleyball squad crushed Port Townsend. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Torched. Burnt to a crisp. Annihilated.

Choose any of the above, because they all apply to the Port Townsend High School JV volleyball team after the whuppin’ applied Thursday by Coupeville.

Using 13 different players, and getting big performances from all of them, the Wolves cruised in with a 25-6, 25-11, 25-5 win in front of their home fans.

The non-league victory snaps a three-game losing skid for the CHS young guns — two of those losses came in three-set nail-biters — and lifts them to 3-4 on the season.

In a match where pretty much everything went right for the Wolves, the spiker with the hottest hand was Izzy Wells.

Making her second trip of the night to the service line, the freshman turned a 2-1 third-set deficit into a 17-2 advantage, running off 16 straight points, with few of her serves even put back into play.

Wells ripped an ace off of a Port Townsend player’s chest, then promptly mixed things up by dropping her next serve right at the feet of the same gobsmacked RedHawk.

That second serve skipped merrily away for another ace, while fellow frosh Kylie Van Velkinburgh buried a winner from mid-court on one of the relatively few times PT got the ball back over the net during the streak.

By the time she was done, Wells had put together Coupeville’s longest run on serve since Lauren Rose rolled off 20 straight points in a varsity win over Chimacum in 2016.

In stark contrast to the note-perfect run of serves, Port Townsend’s defining moment of the night came when a RedHawk picked up a ball after a play, whirled to throw it back to Coupeville’s side of the net and instead buried it right into the stomach of a wide-eyed teammate.

It was that kind of night for the visitors, as the Wolves pounced early, stayed hot and coasted home, while mixing and matching players as fast as coach Chris Smith could sub them in and out.

In the early stages, it was all about Coupeville’s power, as Zoe Trujillo, Maddie Vondrak and the rampaging Vick sisters, Willow and Raven, crushed the ball anytime it was in the air.

Port Townsend failed to score a single point on its serve in the opening set, while Wolves Lucy Sandahl, Jaimee Masters and Co. peppered the RedHawks with superb serves when they were towing the line.

Willow Vick, in a stirring set-up to Wells later exploits, put together a seven-point run on her serve which featured a bit of everything.

She tore apart the defense with one ace that scorched the middle of the court, then artfully slipped another winner barely over the net.

It was a low, dangerous hummer which caught the top of the net and flopped over, hitting Port Townsend’s side of the floor before promptly dying.

Her twin sister chipped in, with Raven hammering a spike which ended a brief rally on one of Willow’s serves.

The response from one frustrated (and now highly-nervous) RedHawk?

A low, strained whimper of “OH … MY … GOD!!!”

Moments later, Trujillo went airborne and lashed a laser shot which cracked off a Port Townsend player’s arm, sending her staggering off in search of somewhere, anywhere to hide.

She never found that safe haven.

The second set was more of the same, just with a handful of Coupeville errors scattered among the big plays.

Vondrak, dancing above the net, used the very end of her fingertips to twice stuff RedHawk shots, while the Wolves dominated on serve yet again.

Masters scorched aces, Raven Vick zinged aces, Trujillo fired aces and Vondrak mashed aces in the middle set. Sense a trend, do you?

While Wells one-woman ballet of death and destruction grabbed the biggest chunk of the spotlight in the final frame, Noelle Daigneault also dropped in a gorgeous ace and Masters closed the night firing BB’s at the line.

Along the way, Abby Meyers, Ivy Leedy, Abby Mulholland and Eryn Wood all saw quality floor time, with Mulholland skying high to slam home an especially impressive spike.

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Volleyball pics to spike your Thursday blues!!

Posted in Middle School, Volleyball, tagged , , , , on October 4, 2018| Leave a Comment »

Alita “The Assassin” Blouin kick-starts the CMS volleyball offense. (Photos by JophnsPhotos.net)

Jesse Ross-McMahon fires up a serve.

Taygin Jump goes low to scrape a runaway ball off the floor.

Gwen Gustafson waits to make first contact.

Coupeville’s fans are deeply committed to the cause.

Flying in to make the play, Melanie Navarro is a star on the rise.

Lauren Marrs pounds an ace.

Team manager Nezi Keiper (left) enjoys quality time with Kaitlyn Leavell (16) and Desi Ramirez.

How long was it, you ask? Very long.

Wednesday’s middle school volleyball clash between Langley and Coupeville went on for 4+ hours, giving John Fisken time to shoot a bunch of pics, wander away to complete another job, and still get back with enough time to shoot some more glossies.

The photos seen above are a mix of 8th and 7th grade varsity matches, as he was off on the other shoot during the JV rumbles.

To see all the shots Fisken snapped during his two visits to the CMS gym, pop over to:

 

7th grade:

http://www.nscathletics.com/index.php?act=view_gallery&gallery=18954&pid=0.1009.10372.0.206

Use the coupon code EB189544962 when you purchase photos from the 7th grade game before Oct. 18, 2018 and get a 15% discount.

 

8th grade:

http://www.nscathletics.com/index.php?act=view_gallery&gallery=18953&pid=0.1009.10372.0.206

If you’re buying 8th grade pics from this game before Oct. 18, use the coupon code EB189534962 to nab the same 15% discount.

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Spikes all day (and night)!!

Posted in Middle School, Volleyball, tagged , , , , on October 3, 2018| Leave a Comment »

CMS 8th grader Lucy Tenore, seen here in an earlier match, delivered a big-time performance Wednesday against Langley. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

One court, four matches, 10 sets, 255 minutes of sitting on the hardest bleachers in all of creation, 393 points, 12,000 screams and a million hustle plays.

Wednesday offered many things for middle school volleyball fans, from an endurance test for our rumps (we all lost…) to a chance to watch mostly-friendly Island rivals go toe-to-toe.

And while visiting Langley came away with better results, winning three of four matches, the hometown Coupeville spiker squads pulled off their share of dazzling plays and grace under fire.

The matches, in the order they were played:

 

8th grade varsity:

The second-closest match of the day, as CMS pushed Langley to three sets, before falling 25-16, 22-25, 25-8.

Coupeville got big-time performances from Lucy Tenore and Alita Blouin, among others, while Vivian Farris dropped the single most-beautiful shot of the entire afternoon right at crunch time, but the Cougars ultimately had too much power and too much precision.

Leading the way for the visitors was Morgan Batchelor, who could already be starting for a lot of high school teams even if she’s not, technically, in high school.

Unleashing spikes with a power rarely seen at the middle school level, the Langley terror dominated at the net and the service stripe, with her play reminiscent of former Coupeville star Sarah Mouw. And that’s a major compliment.

While Wolf fans say silent prayers Batchelor and her family decide to move up-Island to Cow Town for her high school days (hey, I can dream…), they can appreciate her already well-rounded game, even as her blasts left all of us a bit shell-shocked.

Tenore responded with some of her own power in the opening set, rifling several winners, while Blouin and Gwen Gustafson put together nice runs at the service stripe.

CMS fought back from five down to knot things up at 12-12, only to have Batchelor crush all the air out of the ball with a set-swinging kill which tore off a chunk of the back line.

That sparked a 13-4 run to close the set by Langley, and could have deflated all of Coupeville’s will.

Instead, the Wolves flashed some nice grit, taking a back-and-forth brawl that raged through much of the second set.

Taygin Jump and Gustafson dropped back-to-back daggers, lofting sideways shots which pierced the Langley defense, Maddie Georges and Ryanne Knoblich were strong on serve, while Blouin scraped shot after shot off the floor.

With the set tied at 22-22, CMS needed a hero, and Farris was ready.

The two teams kept the ball hoppin’ during an intense rally, with the Cougars appearing to have a put-away to go ahead.

Instead, Farris, sliding in from the side, dropped a sweet, and perfectly-placed, shot up and over her shoulder.

The ball kissed the top of the net, hung in air for an eternity, then dropped like an anvil on Langley’s side, bouncing away for an unexpected winner as all the Wolves and Cougars screamed in unison.

Coupeville seized the momentum, with Tenore blasting a serve off of a Langley player’s face, and a point later, the match was headed to a third and final set.

While the last frame went too quickly, and in the wrong direction, for the Wolves, they did get a beauty of a fingertip block from Tenore, a great one-armed hustle save from Hayley Fiedler and a note-perfect jump tip from the appropriately-named Jump.

 

8th grade JV:

The brawl to end them all, as the two teams split, with Langley taking the opening set 27-25, before Coupeville rebounded to claim the second frame 25-22.

Since we ended up being in the gym for 4+ hours, would it have hurt to trim some of the (many, many) warm-up periods and let these two squads play a deciding third set?

I think not, but those kind of decisions are above my pay grade, so I content myself by sitting back and whining about things afterward.

Anyways.

The opening set, despite a flawless tip winner from Jill Prince and a smokin’ hot ace off the hand of Cypress Socha, seemed to be all Cougars, all the time.

Until it wasn’t.

Down 21-10, Coupeville went on a 9-3 run, powered by some nasty, and very effective, Allie Lucero serves, to make it a fight.

Even then, the Wolves trailed 24-19, with the Cougars on match point.

Cue the second, even-more impressive CMS run.

Katie Buskala lobbed a drop shot winner which split a pair of Cougar defenders, than the other Lucero twin, Maya, got the ball in her hands and went berserk at the line, lacing aces which spit fire as they singed the net on their way past.

From the brink of defeat, the Wolves held off five set points, eventually grabbing their first, and only, lead of the set at 25-24.

While Langley calmed down and pulled away with three straight points to claim the frame, the comeback lit a fire under the Coupeville players.

The second set was their showcase, as Gustafson lashed a winner from the middle of the court to kick things off, before Socha, Buskala, Gustafson and Maya Lucero dominated on serve.

CMS led almost start to finish, just falling behind by a single point twice, with Buskala and Prince coming up with big shots to hold off Langley down the stretch.

 

7th grade JV:

Langley’s serving dominance carried it to a 25-9, 25-15 victory.

Coupeville’s MVP in the opening set was Lauren Marrs, who dropped in several winners and staged a one-woman rally on a point in which she was the lone Wolf to hit the ball, and kept it in play through four exchanges.

The Wolves only claimed a single point off their serve in the first frame, but it was a sizzlin’ ace from Melanie Navarro.

Jordyn Rogers emerged as Coupeville’s best hope at the line in the second set, popping a pair of aces during a run of four straight points on her serve, while Brenna Silveira lobbed a winner off a return, catching the last flake of paint on the back line.

 

7th grade varsity:

With very few 7th graders on its roster, Coupeville essentially played the same lineup as in the JV match, and Langley’s top squad, crammed full of ferocious servers, rolled to a 25-4, 25-11, 25-9 victory.

The first set featured a phenomenal shot by Desi Ramirez, as the Wolf youngster lobbed the ball back over her head, while looking the other way.

The ball caught the back line and caught the Cougars flat-footed, for maybe the only time in the match.

After that, highlights included Marrs putting together two more solid runs on serve, Kaitlyn Leavell sliding a winner across the net on mom Sarah’s birthday, and solid all-around play from Jesse Ross-McMahon.

Every Wolf in action Wednesday contributed, whether it was hustle, chipping in on rallies or chattering positively to teammates, with Ava Mitten, Lily Meyers, Skylar Parker, Hayley Thomas and Mercedes Kalwies-Anderson giving the jam-packed CMS gym something to cheer.

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King’s kongs Wolves!!

Posted in Girls Soccer, Volleyball, tagged , , , , , on October 2, 2018| Leave a Comment »

Even with a loss Tuesday to the defending state champs, Ashley Menges and Coupeville volleyball are a strong 5-1 on the season. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

Maddy Hilkey and her Wolf soccer teammates are back playing at home Thursday.

Welcome to Hell Day.

Tuesday offered Coupeville High School female athletes a reminder there are six schools in the North Sound Conference, and five of them are chasing the sixth.

King’s, one of the true premier, sports-orientated private schools in the land, entered this year as the defending state champs in both volleyball and girls soccer, and little has changed.

Both Knights squads are undefeated in league play, with just a single non-conference loss to a 3A school from the Metro League (soccer) and a 4A school from Kingco (volleyball).

So, it comes as little surprise that the Wolves, despite putting up strong effort Tuesday, were swept aside by King’s on the road in Shoreline.

 

Varsity volleyball:

The big match-up of the night, as Coupeville and King’s entered play tied for first-place.

The Knights, whose only loss was to undefeated 4A North Creek, held steady, winning 25-12, 25-13, 25-15.

The loss drops the Wolves to 3-1 in league, 5-1 overall, while King’s rises to 4-0, 6-1.

Coupeville didn’t go down easily, fighting for every point and scraping shots off the floor.

“It got progressively better and more competitive,” said CHS coach Cory Whitmore. “Just let a few strings of points get away from us without coming up with our own.

“We dug the ball tenaciously, which we can be proud of, and made them earn their points,” he added. “That definitely was the strongest part of our game and we received compliments for our grit.”

The teams will meet again in three weeks, when King’s visits Whidbey Oct. 23, and the Wolves will be ready.

“We need to take a look at some things in practice and be ready to take on our next opponent, looking to take care of business,” Whitmore said. “Then we’ll get a second chance at them second half of season.”

Scout Smith paced the Wolves with 17 assists and two service aces, while Emma Smith (five kills, two aces), Maya Toomey-Stout (four kills, three digs) and Chelsea Prescott (two kills, three digs) provided solid back-up.

 

JV volleyball:

Coupeville was swept in three sets, but JV coach Chris Smith liked the fight his players showed.

“King’s played well,” he said. “We battled and kept our chins up.

“We just have to keep working. We have a lot of good things to learn playing a team like King’s.”

With the loss, the young Wolves slip to 1-3 in league play, 2-4 overall.

 

Varsity soccer:

King’s tied its season-high in goals, routing Coupeville 9-0.

The Knights, who lost their season opener 1-0 to 3A Lakeside, have won eight straight, while outscoring foes 45-2.

The Wolves, meanwhile, drop to 1-5 in league play, 1-8-1 overall. They have been shutout in six of 10 games this season.

“We lost to the defending state champs, and they showed that they look like possible repeat champs as well,” said CHS coach Kyle Nelson. “They are very tough on their home field.

“I thought in many ways we had a better game this time than when we lost to them 4-0 earlier in the season,” he added. “We had better ball movement, and for good portions we defended well against a very fast and dynamic Kings attack.”

One bright spot for the Wolves is the schedule gets easier the next couple of games.

CHS gets a break from conference action when it hosts former league rival Port Townsend (1-9) Thursday.

After that comes Coupeville’s final four league games, starting with a road trip to Sultan Oct. 9 to face a team it blasted 6-0 the first time around.

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