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With great power comes great wins

Posted in Volleyball, tagged , , , , , on September 19, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Wolf seniors (l to r) Lyla Stuurmans, Jada Heaton, and Taylor Brotemarkle are off to a great start. (Jennifer Heaton photo)

The gym was different, the result the same.

Playing at home for the first time this season Thursday, the Coupeville High School varsity volleyball squad kept its perfect streak going.

Sweeping visiting Mount Vernon Christian 25-17, 25-15, 25-7 on Madison McMillan’s cake day, the Wolves get to 2-0 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 3-0 overall.

They haven’t dropped a set in regular season play, and certainly weren’t about to start against the Hurricanes.

Other than brief burps at the start of the first two sets, CHS led start to finish, with spry setter Katie Marti flying around, feeding a variety of big hitters who hammered winners upon winners.

MVC did lead 3-2 in the opening set, but then the Wolves promptly roared to life.

Bounding all around the court, Lyla Stuurmans and Teagan Calkins took turns delivering crisp winners which sliced off kneecaps and left the Hurricanes to wonder if their life insurance policies were paid up.

When the duo wasn’t banging away, they also delivered savage barbs with a poke here, a tip there, always keeping the ball just out of range of their rival hitters.

Add in some titanic mashes exploding off of the deadly fingers of Mia Farris as she swooped in from the side, and Jada Heaton up on her toes, ready to dominate at the net, and Coupeville was in full-on kill mode.

The ever-calm (even on her birthday) McMillan and the indispensable Taylor Brotemarkle dug deep to pull balls off the floor, with Marti cavorting from side to side, taking their setups and lofting the ball to her snipers.

Birthday girl Madison McMillan contemplates how hard she would have to hit the volleyball to make it explode. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Flush from the success of the first set, the second frame went down much the same.

Coupeville dominated, the Hurricanes fought back with a never-say-die spirit, and then the Wolves beat the air right out of the ball.

Farris, in full-on Mia the Magnificent mode, lashed a huge spike that tore off a chunk of the floor.

To which Stuurmans responded, “I can do that too,” as she bounded skyward and sent a missile screaming past a Hurricane defender who wisely decided that no, she didn’t really want to try and return that one.

Enter “The Red Dragon,” AKA Teagan Calkins, who, perhaps channeling Austin Powers, stated that she too liked to live dangerously.

And by live dangerously, she meant “hit the volleyball so hard it goes blind.”

Teagan Calkins drops a winner. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

If MVC thought the explosion at the power factory was done after the second set, it was sadly mistaken, since set three was nothing but non-stop bicep-poppin’, big-hittin’ fun for the Wolves.

McMillan punctuated her day of birth by firing a bullet which caught the corner of the court for a point, and a look at this reporter’s notebook reveals the following from set #3:

“Lyla bomb.”

“Mia laser.”

“Lyla mash.”

“Mia freakin’ massacred the ball.”

At the end of the fireworks show, the night’s final point was maybe the most impressive, while featuring artistry over pure firepower.

Scrambling madly towards the CHS bench (with a 24-7 lead), Marti stretched out to her full length and caught an out-of-control ball before it could get away.

Spinning it back over her head, she (somehow) sent it on a dime to Stuurmans, who sliced the ball across the top of the net.

Startled that the ball was coming back in her direction after the play seemed all but dead, a Hurricane hitter punched at the ball and sent it sailing far away into the night, ending things and sending the Wolves into a celebration.

In a match in which 10 girls hit the floor — Tenley Stuurmans, Aby Wood, and Dakota Strong also got floor time late — Coupeville got the nod of approval from coach Cory Whitmore.

“It was good to work through a couple of things,” he said. “We looked pretty sharp and controlled the first ball pretty well.

“What’s exciting about this group is they find the hitter with the hot hand, even if that changes from set to set and night to night.”

 

Milestone moments:

Both Calkins and Marti hit round numbers recently, Whitmore said.

Marti, a senior, nailed her 100th career ace at the service stripe during last weekend’s SunDome Volleyball Festival, and sits at 105 and counting.

Meanwhile, Calkins, a junior, reached 100 career kills during the last regular season match against Friday Harbor. With six more Thursday against MVC, she’s up to 112 for her prep career.

 

Thursday stats:

Taylor Brotemarkle — 6 digs
Teagan Calkins — 6 kills, 4 digs, 3 aces
Mia Farris — 4 kills, 9 digs, 2 aces
Jada Heaton— 1 kill, 1 dig
Katie Marti — 2 kills, 8 digs, 19 assists, 1 block assist, 2 aces
Madison McMillan — 4 kills, 12 digs, 2 aces
Lyla Stuurmans — 10 kills, 7 digs, 1 solo block, 1 block assist, 1 ace
Tenley Stuurmans — 1 ace

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Hurricanes nip Wolf JV spikers

Posted in Volleyball, tagged , , , , on September 19, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Haylee Armstrong (left) and Ari Cunningham discuss strategy. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

They won the battle and lost the war.

Playing from behind in every set Thursday, the Coupeville High School JV volleyball squad held off four match points and actually won one more point than visiting Mount Vernon Christian.

But the game of spikes and digs is decided by capturing sets, and not total points, so a 62-61 advantage couldn’t net the Wolves a win, as they fell 20-25, 26-24, 15-13.

The loss, coming in Coupeville’s home opener, drops the JV spikers to 1-1 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 2-1 overall.

The young Wolves proved to be a scrappy bunch but did most of their best work Thursday after digging a big hole for themselves.

CHS trailed 12-4 in the opening set, before sophomore Dakota Strong lashed a winner at the net to key the turnaround.

Bit by bit the Wolves got back into the match, picking up points on serves from Tenley Stuurmans, Ari Cunningham, and Haylee Armstrong, but were still down 18-14 when Capri Anter stepped to the line.

Dropping bombs on the Hurricanes, and getting some help from Stuurmans, who netted a sweet runner that dropped over the heads of a pack of defenders, Anter shoved Coupeville back into the lead.

Six straight points on serve gave the Wolves a lead they wouldn’t relinquish, with Cunningham and Stuurmans coming up big at crunch time.

The set-winning point was a note-perfect shot from fab frosh Stuurmans, who drew the defense in, flicked a winner between Hurricane players, then calmly strolled away, small smile on her face.

Tenley Stuurmans is here to deliver winners.

Unfortunately for Coupeville, as soon as it had the advantage, it gave it right back to MVC.

A couple of slow stretches offensively left the Wolves in another hole, this time at 13-7, before the hometown hitters once again rallied.

Adeline Maynes cranked back-to-back aces, coming right after Lexis Drake stuffed the visitors on a play set up by a great dive from Cunningham to keep the action alive.

Coupeville finally reclaimed the lead at 23-22, courtesy a strong run at the service stripe from Armstrong, only for MVC to escape and knot things up at a set apiece.

There were two ties in the final set, at 1-1 and 4-4, before the ‘Canes pulled away seemingly for good.

With things going to 15, and not 25, Mount Vernon staked itself to a 14-9 lead, only to see the Wolves mount a comeback that almost made it all the way.

With Anter peppering the visitors from the line, Coupeville held off four match points and had a chance to force a tie at 14-14, only to be denied by a ball which missed the endline by a whisker.

While the loss stings, the Wolf JV spikers, who celebrated Isa Mc Fetridge’s birthday Thursday, will get back at it.

Next up is a road trip to La Conner Tuesday, Sept. 24, then a home tilt with Darrington two days later.

 

Thursday stats:

Capri Anter — 4 kills, 8 digs, 5 aces
Haylee Armstrong — 8 digs, 1 ace
Ari Cunningham — 3 kills, 1 dig, 1 ace
Lexis Drake — 1 solo block, 2 aces
Adeline Maynes — 5 digs, 4 assists, 3 aces
Dakota Strong — 2 kills
Tenley Stuurmans — 6 kills, 1 dig, 5 assists, 2 aces

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Quick work, lopsided win

Posted in Volleyball, tagged , , , , , on September 17, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Adeline Maynes flips a pass skyward. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Only the siren call of the ferry could slow them down.

Playing second Tuesday, the Coupeville High School JV volleyball squad destroyed host Friday Harbor 25-7 in the opening set of their match.

Then the Wolves had to skedaddle, as the clock was running down, the Washington State ferry system was unreliable, and no one wanted to stay on a strange chunk of rock an extra night.

While the match was shorter than anticipated, the win lifts Coupeville’s second unit to 2-0 overall, 1-0 in Northwest 2B/1B League play.

Next up is a home match Thursday against Mount Vernon Christian, with the promise that ferries won’t matter, and the entire rumble will go down before anyone has to call it quits.

Coupeville coach Ashley Menges would have liked to have seen her squad stay on the floor longer but was philosophical about things.

“It was good, we got to get a lot of players in, and we were just lucky we got to play at all,” she said.

 

Tuesday stats:

Capri Anter — 1 kill, 2 digs, 2 aces
Haylee Armstrong — 3 aces
Ari Cunningham — 1 kill
Lexis Drake — 2 kills, 1 ace
Willow Leedy-Bonifas — 2 aces
Adeline Maynes — 4 assists, 4 aces
Chelsi Stevens — 1 kill
Sydney Van Dyke — 1 kill

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Spikers sweep to second win

Posted in Volleyball, tagged , , , , on September 17, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Lyla Stuurmans pounds the ball. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Another day, another sweep.

Surviving a trip to the outer islands Tuesday, the Coupeville High School varsity volleyball squad rolled to a win in its conference opener.

Polishing off host Friday Harbor 25-19, 25-12, 25-11, the Wolves get to 2-0 overall, 1-0 in Northwest 2B/1B League play.

The CHS spikers also hand their coach a milestone, as the victory is the 90th for Cory Whitmore during his time with the Wolf volleyball program.

Coupeville, coming off a strong showing at the SunDome Volleyball Festival, hasn’t dropped a set in its first two regular season matches.

And while Friday Harbor gave the Wolves a little bit of a battle in the opener, after that Whitmore’s assassins went methodically to work.

“We cleaned it up after a bit of a sloppy first set and took care of business in the second and third,” he said.

Key to the win was Coupeville’s ability to respond strongly on first ball contacts, with senior setter Katie Marti running a fairly clean offense.

Twin terrors Lyla Stuurmans and Teagan Calkins rained down 11 kills apiece, with both big-ball hitters racking up a torrid hitting percentage.

Next up is Coupeville’s home debut Thursday, with the Wolves taking the court against visiting Mount Vernon Christian in another league tilt.

Between then and now, the Wolves will look to fine-tune things, while keeping their eyes firmly focused on the prize.

“We are going to be working on cleaning up our serve for the situations we often face,” Whitmore said.

“But I was happy to see them rally themselves to a higher standard.”

 

Tuesday stats:

Taylor Brotemarkle — 2 digs
Teagan Calkins — 11 kills
Mia Farris — 5 kills, 3 digs, 1 solo block, 3 aces
Jada Heaton — 4 kills
Katie Marti — 3 kills, 5 digs, 25 assists, 2 aces
Madison McMillan — 1 kill, 7 digs, 8 aces
Lyla Stuurmans — 11 kills, 4 digs, 1 solo block, 6 aces
Tenley Stuurmans — 1 kill, 1 dig, 3 aces

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Spikers rock the floor in Yakima

Posted in Volleyball, tagged , , , , on September 15, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Coupeville seniors led the charge in Yakima. (Jennifer Heaton photo)

Katie Marti was virtually unstoppable.

Peppering her rivals with laser-like serves which tore holes in the floor, the Coupeville High School senior ripped off 14 consecutive points on her serve at one point Friday in Yakima.

She was operating with such precision and speed, mom Christi Messner, who had briefly stepped out of the gym to get lunch for everyone, almost missed an entire set.

But she got back in time to witness the celebration, food in hand, so things worked out just fine.

It was that kind of day for the CHS varsity volleyball squad, which went a fiery 10-3 at the 32-team SunDome Volleyball Festival, playing superb ball on the same floor where the state tourney will be waged later this fall.

Even getting back to Coupeville in the wee hours of Saturday morning, the Wolves garnered much from their trek East.

“It was a great trip, and we gained a lot of really great experience from it,” said CHS coach Cory Whitmore.

The Slammin’ Stuurmans Sisters — Tenley (left) and Lyla — are ready to bring some serious heat to the floor. (Sarah Stuurmans photo)

Coupeville kicked things off with their toughest match of the day, splitting two sets with Stevenson, before sweeping Connell and White Swan 2-0 with everyone in uniform seeing action.

That left the Wolves in second place in their pool, and the hot play continued over into bracket play, where they opened with 2-0 wins over University Place and DeSales.

Tiredness caught up just a bit to Coupeville in the championship match in the silver bracket, where they were edged in three torrid sets by Northwest Christian (Colbert) and claimed second place.

Facing down six opponents and largely dominating, while playing match after match in an environment recreating the state tourney experience? All huge positives.

“The entire point in attending the SunDome Volleyball Festival was to gain experience against tough competition, build upon our strength, identify and expose our weaknesses, and play in the exact environment we are hoping to play in at state,” Whitmore said.

“And we finished the day having checked all those boxes.

“I’m really proud of how the girls remained unified throughout a challenging day – it’s no easy task to play that much with such short breaks and still keep mentally strong enough to stick together.

“They do this exceptionally well and it makes a long day a lot of fun.”

Whitmore praised the play of his entire roster, while offering up flowers to a handful of spikers who really shined on the big stage.

“It is challenging to point out any one player that stood out, because throughout the day we had each player really contribute big-time in a variety of ways,” he said.

“Leading the way with their mental strength would be Mia (Farris), Lyla (Stuurmans), and Madison (McMillan). All three barely left the court all day and took the vast majority of swings.

“I’m so proud of how they shouldered so much of the load from the back and front row and still remained very effective in their roles.”

Marti, who kick-starts the team from her setter position, was a fireball all tourney, whether she was fresh in set one, or tired in set #13.

Jada Heaton (left) and Katie Marti, briefly at rest. (Jennifer Heaton photo)

“It was also a lot to ask of Katie, tracking down passes and digs and running the offense, but I thought that she remained consistent throughout the day,” Whitmore said.

“Her serve was brutal to the other teams’ offenses and again, she was very reliable from the line.”

Whitmore also heaped appreciation on the support crew, which came out in full force, even on the other side of the state.

“Another shoutout has to go to our parent group – we had so much help from the parents that were able to attend, and it really allowed for us as coaches to focus on preparing the team to be at their best,” Whitmore said.

“I thought we managed the flow of the tournament really well and that part of the competition can’t go overlooked or underappreciated,” he added.

“I’m very lucky to work so closely with a supportive and genuinely fun group to work with!”

Having returned home, Coupeville begins league play this coming week, with clashes against Friday Harbor and Mount Vernon Christian on the schedule.

Having had the chance to pick up some key tourney experience can only benefit the Wolves as they chase their goals the rest of the season.

“There was a lot to take away from this tournament,” Whitmore said.

“And even though I’m really excited about having gone 10 and 3 on the day, it’s the lessons and experience we gained that will be of tremendous benefit to the team as we move forward.”

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