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Archive for the ‘Volleyball’ Category

Art inspires young spiker!!

Posted in Volleyball, tagged , , , , on September 15, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Kameryn St Onge

Kameryn St Onge

Kameryn St Onge comes alive in art class.

“I love art class. I love creating colorful new dreams.”

On the volleyball court, the Coupeville High School freshman is just starting to paint her own dreams, as well.

After picking up the sport in middle school, she’s moved up a level and hoping to take huge strides in her game.

“I want to do club volleyball,” St Onge said. “And hopefully get a scholarship to the University of Washington.”

Volleyball is her lone sport right now (“So, for the rest of the year I can just focus on school work”), and she’s hard at work refining her skill set.

“I just love playing and spiking and all my fabulous team mates,” St Onge said. “My fellow players have helped me stay positive when I’m down.”

She’s fairly confident in her hitting, but, like any other young, developing player, knows she still has areas to work on.

“I would say spiking (is a strength),” St Onge said. “I need to work on ball control more.”

Off the court, the younger sister of Wolf cheerleader Ciera St Onge is a music fan (“I love rock music!”) and has a serious relationship with the online leader in entertainment.

“Netflix is my life!”

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Big hitter? It’s a family tradition!!

Posted in Volleyball, tagged , , , , , on September 13, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Mackenzi Valko

Mackenzi Valko

The little sister is just like the big brother — they both love hitting.

During his days as a football player at Coupeville High School, former Wolf captain Caleb Valko was a beast on defense, living for that moment when he could unleash a bone-rattling hit on a hapless foe.

Younger sister Mackenzi Valko, a freshman on the Wolf JV volleyball squad, is the same, though she limits her hitting to the ball and not an opposing player.

Though if the other player gets in the way of the ball, well…

“What I love the most is hitting, or spiking,” Valko said. “You can ask anyone on my team, I get way over-excited when I get the chance to hit the ball.”

A veteran swimmer (she’s been on a team for six years), Valko first picked up a volleyball as a competitive player as soon as she moved into middle school.

“I originally came up with the idea to play when I was sixth grade and watched the high school play,” Valko said. “It looked fun and I wanted to try it.”

As befits someone who enjoys hitting, she generally plays in the front. While still a work in progress, she has strong goals for the present and future.

“I definitely want to work a little on my hitting even though it’s one of my strengths,” Valko said. “I have to work on my timing and the steps.

“My goal is to definitely get to the ball and help my team reach the top,” she added. “For the future, I kind of want to play in college, depending on how I advance throughout high school.”

Away from the court, she enjoys her English class (“I want to study journalism”), the movie “Burlesque” (“I’m obsessed with Christina Aguilera“) and can usually be found glued to Netflix, reading or sleeping.

“I’m pretty laid back.”

Her family are her biggest fans, with her mom being the nurturer and big bro being the vocal go-get-’em guy.

“My mom and my brother have had an impact on the sports I do,” Valko said. “My mom is a huge supporter of swim team and comes to as many volleyball matches as she can.

“My brother actually refuses to allow me to quit because he thinks I can do it.”

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Ray of sunshine or Kyla Briscoe? Same thing!!

Posted in Happy birthday, Volleyball, tagged , , , on September 12, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Kyla Briscoe

Kyla Briscoe

I knew Kyla Briscoe before she got famous.

Before she was a starter Thursday night in the first home varsity volleyball match of her freshman season.

Even back before the days when she and Lauren Rose gave me free cupcakes during their middle school basketball season. Sweet, sweet free cupcakes…

But, yes, anyways, I knew Kyla, who celebrates her 15th birthday today, back when she was but a wee lass running wild in the aisles of first Videoville and then David’s DVD Den.

Since that time she has shot up to basketball-playing height and is on the fast track to being a multi-sport athletic star, but nothing has changed about her personality.

Kyla still is one of the sunniest, friendliest young women in the world, a devoted lil’ sis to Wolf sophomore Tiffany Briscoe (even when the two are tackling each other over the back of a couch while fighting for the remote control) and a truly wonderful person.

She is smart, she is caring, she is well on her way to becoming the truly awesome woman she will one day be.

Mom and dad (Amy and Rich Briscoe) should be very proud of their youngest (their oldest, too).

Seeing her succeed, in athletics and in life, is heartwarming.

Kyla is one of those kids who you root for, 1000%, every day.

She doesn’t demand things for free, she goes out and works hard for them, following in the footsteps of her other “big sister,” CHS senior Hailey Hammer, a strong role model for all young athletes.

So, Miss Briscoe, I hope this birthday, like all the ones to come, are worthy of you. Cause you’re pretty dang awesome, so your festivities should match.

And, if you should happen to find yourself with too many birthday cupcakes … well, good thing you know where I live.

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Crimmins and Co. serve up a huge win!!

Posted in Volleyball, tagged , , , , on September 11, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Maggie Crimmins prepares to unleash "The Knuckler." (Justine McGranahan photos)

   Maggie Crimmins prepares to unleash “The Knuckler.” (Justine McGranahan photos)

Jae

Wolf libero Jae LeVine (in red) gives her team a pep talk.

Maggie Crimmins is tricky.

The Coupeville High School freshman volleyball player serves underhanded, and why not? She’s deadly that way.

With her serves taking wicked spins and moving in a completely different manner than expected, visiting Friday Harbor was unable to master Crimmins Thursday night.

The Wolf JV spikers won 15 points off of her serves — almost double that of any other CHS server — as they romped to a 25-15, 25-7, 25-18 non-conference win.

The victory evened their record at 1-1.

Crimmins display of serving artistry came over the final two sets, with the Wolves scoring six points on her serve in the second set and nine in the third.

Coupeville was strong at the line all night, winning nine points apiece off of serves by Payton Aparicio, Lauren Grove and Hope Lodell.

The Wolves jumped out to big leads in all three sets, had momentary burps in the first and third, and were lights out in the second.

Along the way, they got masterful plays from almost everyone on the floor.

Katrina McGranahan was a force of nature at the net, while Brittany Powers and Grove were everywhere, getting hands on almost every ball remotely in their vicinity.

Kameryn St Onge, Mackenzi Valko and Sophia Hassapis chipped in with hustle, Allison Wenzel had two beautiful tip plays to win points and Grove, Kayla Rose and Jae LeVine closed out the sets at the service stripe.

LeVine, as is her fashion, then did a quick happy dance after Friday Harbor failed to return her match-ending serve.

Dance on, Jae, dance on.

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Floor burn fever sweeps the nation!!

Posted in Volleyball, tagged , , , , , on September 11, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Valen Trujillo, seen here last season, hasn't changed her style of play at all. (John Fisken photo)

   Valen Trujillo, seen here last season, hasn’t changed her aggressive, electrifying style of play at all. (John Fisken photo)

If volleyball wins and losses were measured by who has the most floor burns, Coupeville would have been a straight-up winner Thursday night.

With Valen Trujillo and Kacie Kiel leading the charge — diving, sliding and skidding madly in pursuit of every loose ball — the Wolves refused to go down easily against visiting Friday Harbor. But, in the end, they did go down.

Despite fighting off eight match points, six in an epic third set in which it came back for the win, CHS eventually fell 25-10, 25-14, 31-33, 25-18.

The non-conference loss dropped the Wolves to 0-2 on the season.

They now have a full week off before their next match — a road trip to Orcas Island Sept. 18 — which should give the Wolf players time to heal bruised and bashed knees, thighs and elbows.

The biggest body blows came in the third set, when down two sets and trailing 8-3, Coupeville decided to get scrappy.

A picture-perfect tip for a winner from Kiel started the rally, and then big hustle plays from Sydney Autio and Trujillo, withering spikes from Hailey Hammer and precision serving from Miranda Engle started to pile up on one another in a most pleasing fashion.

The set became a battle royal, with 15 ties and stretched well beyond the usual race to 25 points.

Friday Harbor, after trailing 22-17, rallied to take its first match point at 24-23, but the Wolves refused to break. Over the next 10 minutes, they fought off match point six times, the last at 31-30.

Coupeville claimed the final three points, with Kiel serving out the set and punctuating things with a spike that exploded off the court and sent her dad, Steve, into a fit of glee.

His joyful screams of “that’s my baby girl!!” could be heard down around La Conner.

Still riding an emotional high off of the marathon third set, the Wolves jumped out to a 5-3 lead in the fourth, then unraveled a bit.

Unable to overcome a strong net game by a tall Friday Harbor squad, which frequently stuffed Coupeville’s best efforts at putaways, the Wolves let the momentary lead slip away.

But, even at the end, they didn’t go easy.

Junior McKenzie Bailey had three winners in a four-point stretch, elevating and dominating, as Coupeville fought off two more match points before finally running out of steam.

For the match, Hammer collected nine kills and four service aces, while Kiel had 13 digs, four kills and two blocks and Bailey had four kills and one block.

Trujillo had 13 digs, Autio nine assists and Engle two service aces.

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