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Archive for the ‘Volleyball’ Category

JV spikers scorch private school foes

Posted in Volleyball, tagged , , , , , on October 16, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Carly Burt cranks up a winner. (Jackie Saia photo)

Six pistons firing as one.

Playing with no reserves Monday, the Coupeville High School JV volleyball squad scorched visiting Providence Classical Christian, dismantling their private school foes in straight sets.

By the time they were done, the Wolves had a 25-16, 25-13, 25-20 non-conference victory in hand, which lifts them to 4-6 on the season.

Despite playing with a thin bench night in and night out, the freshman-dominated team has won three of its last five.

Next up, road trips to The Bush School in Seattle Tuesday and Darrington Thursday, as Ashley Menges and her spikers carve a path of success.

Monday night, the Wolves dominated almost start to finish, with just a brief dry spell in the (practice) third set.

Fab frosh Haylee Armstrong came out on fire, peppering PCC with nasty serves to reel off the first five points of the night.

That went over so well, the rest of the Wolves decided to do the same thing, with Capri Anter, Lexis Drake, and Chloe Marzocca reeling off their own hot streaks at the line.

Chloe Marzocca digs out a ball in an earlier match. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

The visitors had trouble keeping a rally alive, at least in the early going, and it didn’t get much easier in the second set.

Myra McDonald cranked an ace off of a rival’s arm, before Marzocca launched several lasers which set up brief rallies won by the Wolves thanks to note-perfect tips from cousins Armstrong and Anter.

Carly Burt also snapped off a gorgeous ace, and Coupeville romped through the first two frames, securing the win.

But, since this is JV volleyball, they always go on to play a third set for practice — to a full 25 points — even when one team has clearly dominated the proceedings.

Given a third chance, PCC proved to be scrappy, building a third-set lead and holding it most of the way.

At a certain point the Wolves flipped a switch, however, with Anter and Marzocca flicking winners on balls which sliced off any fingertips in their way.

Armstrong, down on the floor and using part of her jersey to clean a slick spot on the floor, bounded back up to position her teammates for success with high, arcing sets.

Finally, Drake ended the night on a crowd-pleasing run at the service line, reeling off seven straight points to slam the door shut for good.

 

Monday stats:

Capri Anter — 3 kills, 3 digs, 8 aces
Haylee Armstrong — 4 kills, 2 digs, 9 assists, 10 aces
Carly Burt — 1 dig, 1 ace
Lexis Drake — 3 kills, 2 digs, 1 assist, 3 aces, 1 solo block
Chloe Marzocca — 4 kills, 4 digs, 1 assist, 4 aces
Myra McDonald — 1 ace

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Young guns, big growth

Posted in Volleyball, tagged , , , , , on October 15, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Haylee Armstrong, making friends and droppin’ spikes. (Michelle Armstrong photo)

Show up ready to go this season, and you’re guaranteed plenty of floor time.

Coupeville High School JV volleyball coach Ashley Menges has a short bench this time around, but that has allowed her to make sure her younger players will finish the campaign as true vets.

The Wolf spikers sit at 2-3 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 3-6 overall heading into a home non-conference rumble Monday with Providence Classical Christian.

Tipoff is 5:00 PM, with the varsity following at 6:30.

But, while they dropped their most recent full match, falling 2-1 to Mount Vernon Christian Thursday, that’s still a sign of improvement.

First time around, the Wolf JV was swept 3-0 by MVC.

Carly Burt (left) and Capri Anter are part of a promising pack of spikers. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

That continued growth was on full display Saturday as well, as Coupeville’s young spikers spent most of the day playing at a tournament in Oak Harbor.

With that night’s Homecoming dance on their minds, the Wolves won three of seven sets.

The highlights for a 2B school were a sweep of 1A Nooksack Valley (27-26, 25-23), and a split with 3A Mount Vernon (25-27, 25-16).

Coupeville also played 2A Lynden tough, losing 25-21, 25-15, and fell 25-12 in yet another matchup with MVC.

 

Oak Harbor Tourney stats:

Capri Anter — 14 kills, 16 digs, 1 assist, 7 aces
Haylee Armstrong — 9 kills, 11 digs, 23 assists, 11 aces
Carly Burt — 1 kill, 6 digs
Teagan Calkins — 21 digs, 2 assists
Lexis Drake — 13 kills
Chloe Marzocca — 3 kills, 3 digs, 6 aces
Myra McDonald — 1 kill, 3 aces
Dakota Strong — 8 kills, 5 aces

 

Coupeville varsity coach Cory Whitmore offers some suggestions to the young Wolves during Saturday’s tourney. (Jennifer Marzocca photo)

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Spikers fill up the stat sheet

Posted in Volleyball, tagged , , , , on October 15, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Lyla Stuurmans floats back to Earth after thumping another winner. (Nick Guay photo)

The numbers don’t lie.

Nine matches into the season, the Coupeville High School varsity spikers are filling up the stat sheet.

All nine girls who suit up for the squad have written their names in the record books, with four players currently leading the Wolves in at least one of the main statistical categories.

Junior setter Katie Marti and senior middle blocker Grey Peabody top CHS in two places, while junior outside hitters Madison McMillan and Lyla Stuurmans lead the squad in a single numbers race.

The only Wolves to appear in all six stat categories?

Marti and Stuurmans.

Nine superstars, all filling up the stat sheet. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

 

Varsity stats through Oct. 15:

 

Kills:

Lyla Stuurmans – 91
Grey Peabody – 73
Mia Farris – 71
Teagan Calkins – 41
Katie Marti – 16
Jada Heaton – 13
Madison McMillan – 6

 

Digs:

McMillan – 108
Farris – 98
Stuurmans – 71
Marti – 49
Taylor Brotemarkle – 41
Calkins – 15
Peabody – 8
Heaton – 5
Issabel Johnson – 5

 

Block – Solo:

Peabody – 8
Stuurmans – 3
Calkins – 1
Farris – 1
Heaton – 1
Marti – 1

 

Block – Assist:

Peabody – 9
Calkins – 4
Marti – 4
Heaton – 3
Stuurmans – 2

 

Assists:

Marti – 226
McMillan – 12
Stuurmans – 7
Brotemarkle – 3
Heaton – 3
Farris – 1
Johnson – 1
Peabody – 1

 

Service Aces:

Marti – 34
McMillan – 25
Farris – 23
Calkins – 18
Stuurmans – 18
Johnson – 13

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Sizzlin’ serves, valiant victory

Posted in Volleyball, tagged , , , , , on October 13, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Grey Peabody dominated at the net Thursday, sparking Coupeville to a key league win. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

They’re on a tear.

Since coming dangerously close to ending four-time defending 2B state champ La Conner’s 12+ year conference winning streak in a five-set thriller, the Coupeville High School varsity spikers have rocked their foes.

The Wolves have won four straight, with win #4 coming at home Thursday against Mount Vernon Christian.

Coming from behind to nail down a 19-25, 25-13, 25-18, 25-15 victory, CHS improves to 3-2 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 5-4 overall.

Up next for the Wolves are back-to-back non-conference matches, with Providence Classical Christian (10-5) coming to Whidbey Monday, Oct. 16.

The next night, Coupeville enjoys a bus trip to Seattle to square off with The Bush School, which sits at 5-6.

Thursday’s win capped a week in which the Wolves won two of two in their own gym while dealing with all the side events associated with Homecoming.

“Really good team win tonight and super proud of the girls for their maturity as they fought through each set,” said Coupeville coach Cory Whitmore.

“MVC is much improved from previous seasons, and we knew we’d need to show up.”

The Hurricanes, who, like Coupeville, upended La Conner during the South Whidbey Invite, came out strongly, but the Wolves responded in kind.

“We played well even in dropping the first set, but MVC played very tenacious and very clean out of the gates,” Whitmore said.

“That’s the maturity and resiliency I’m proud of with the win tonight – they continued to trust and stick to our systems and just elevate it within the game plan, and it really panned out.”

Stellar play at the service stripe was key to the win.

Issabel Johnson cracks off a fearsome serve. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

“We HAD to serve tough tonight and that was where we came up big with all six servers,” Whitmore said.

“Our best set was the second, where we only committed two errors the entire set which is difficult to pull off while remaining aggressive.”

Across the board, the Wolves brought ferocious play to the floor.

“Madison (McMillan) covered so much of the court and just pinpointed her serving locations tonight,” Whitmore said.

“Katie (Marti) did a great job of distributing the ball. She made really smart choices and delivered the ball to her hitters, keeping them in rhythm.”

In particular, the fiery setter was on the same wavelength with senior slugger Grey Peabody.

“Katie and Grey really connected, but Grey was so smart tonight with her ball placement and aggressiveness on the overpasses,” Whitmore said.

“She also had to adjust her block and made it happen on the fly.”

While Peabody slammed home 12 kills, junior Mia Farris was hot on her heels, peppering the Hurricanes with 11 winners of her own.

“Mia had the offensive game she (and everyone) knew she could,” Whitmore said. “She’s been working so hard on her attack approach, and it popped tonight.

“She was zeroed in on the service line, and had such an air of confidence, there were moments that she truly took over the set.”

As Coupeville heads into Friday’s Homecoming parade and football game, and Saturday’s dance, the spikers are flying high, as they should be.

The Wolves celebrate another win. (Jackie Saia photo)

“They had to maintain a high level of energy and focus for a significant amount of time, and so I’m very proud of the way they pulled together to make it happen,” Whitmore said.

“Fun to get a Homecoming win.”

 

Thursday stats:

Taylor Brotemarkle — 2 digs
Teagan Calkins — 4 kills, 1 dig, 2 aces, 1 solo block, 2 block assists
Mia Farris — 11 kills, 8 digs, 6 aces, 1 solo block
Jada Heaton — 1 dig
Issabel Johnson — 1 ace
Katie Marti — 2 kills, 5 digs, 27 assists, 8 aces
Madison McMillan — 17 digs, 2 assists, 3 aces
Grey Peabody — 12 kills, 3 solo blocks, 2 block assists
Lyla Stuurmans — 7 kills, 3 digs, 1 ace, 2 solo blocks

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“I couldn’t be happier with their growth”

Posted in Middle School, Volleyball, tagged , , , , on October 12, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Chelsi Stevens and her fellow CMS spikers continue to show great growth. (Photo courtesy Kristi Stevens)

It was only the first chapter.

While the Coupeville Middle School volleyball squads fell at South Whidbey Wednesday, the Wolves will get an immediate chance at redemption.

That’s because the next-door neighbors are playing back-to-back matches with each other, with the South Enders scheduled to travel up to Cow Town Tuesday, Oct. 17 for a rematch.

That’s the home finale for Coupeville, and a perfect opportunity for Wolf Nation to pack the CMS gym and create a wall of sound.

With that in mind, how Wednesday played out:

 

Varsity:

Unforced errors stung the Wolves in a 25-17, 25-17, 15-8 loss.

“We started every set strong, but we had so many errors that led South Whidbey to take the lead mid set, while we kept trying to keep the ball in play,” said CMS coach Cris Matochi.

“South Whidbey is way better than they were last year,” he added. “They were keeping the ball in play very consistently.

“They have an incredible and well-trained libero that was running for everything. She is the backbone of their team.”

Matochi also praised the Cougar staff — “They have two great coaches that are doing an incredible job training those kids” — while finding positives for his team, as well.

“Now we know what they look like, and I hope that the players step up their game so we can fight for every point next week,” he said.

“Our setter Addy (Maynes) played her heart out,” Matochi added. “She was getting to every single ball, and she always plays with her full heart.”

Giving her some help is job #1 before the rematch.

“There is only so much a setter can do when the passes are not coming to her,” Matochi said.

“We will be focusing on our serve receive and serve, and keeping the ball in play as those two skills will be imperative for us to be able to perform well.”

The Wolf coach is already counting down the days until Coupeville gets a second crack at its archrivals.

“Next week we will need to fight, and it won’t be easy,” Matochi said. “I’m hoping that being at home and having our incredible fans will boost the players confidence and give them a boost.

“I’m hoping that the girls will use this opportunity to bring their A-game next week.”

 

JV – Team A:

“I feel like I always say this but, although my teams didn’t win the game, they played so well I couldn’t be happier with their growth and progress.”

That was the feeling Wolf coach Kristina Hooks carried away from Langley after her team bounced back to claim set #3 by a 16-14 score, after South Whidbey won the first two frames 25-14, 25-18.

Battling both talented rivals and their own frustration over some questionable calls from the ref — whose seeing-eye dog had been possibly locked out of the gym — the young Wolves got stronger as the match played out.

Hooks has been working with her players on passing — “That’s really the fundamental skill of volleyball” — and was pleased with her team’s growth.

“If you can’t pass, you can’t really do anything else and all of a sudden during this game their passes started being amazing,” she said.

“This was the first game where I had my players practice being setters and getting the second ball and Brooklyn (Pope) and Cami (Van Dyke) did amazing.

“They were running all over the court to get to that second ball.”

 

JV – Team B:

Growth was again the word of the day.

While the Wolves lost 25-19, 25-8, 15-7, Hooks sees progress every time out.

“This team’s performance had a significant increase from our last game,” she said. “They played so well.

“Their passes were doing really well, and almost all of my girls were making their serves over the net, which was amazing and a little surprising.”

On a team with very inexperienced players, Hooks especially enjoys seeing how her young spikers remain positive, helping each other.

“I love the girls on this team,” she said. “They’re all so sweet to each other.

“After every point, especially a mistake, they run towards their teammate that missed a serve or shanked a pass and are encouraging them; it’s the sweetest thing to see.”

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