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Another day, another triumph

Posted in Volleyball, tagged CHS Wolves, Issabel Johnson, JV, Neah Bay, volleyball on October 15, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Issabel Johnson and the Wolf JV spikers are 10-1 after sweeping Neah Bay Saturday. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

The victory express chugs on.

Racking up 25 service aces Saturday, the Coupeville High School JV volleyball team swept visiting Neah Bay off the floor, winning its eighth-straight match.

With the non-conference victory, the Wolf young guns soar to 10-1 on the season, best mark of any CHS fall sports team.

It was a competitive match, to be sure, but one which Coupeville largely controlled, coming out on top 25-23, 25-15, 25-19.

The first two sets played out to a similar tune — the Wolves jumped out to a large lead, the Red Devils rallied, then the Wolves put the hammer down.

Katie Marti got the day off to a strong start, peppering Neah Bay with nasty serves as she staked Coupeville to a quick 6-0 lead.

Teagan Calkins was a tipping machine, using her fingers to flick winners away from her rivals, while Jada Heaton smashed all the air out of the volleyball on a brutal kill as CHS pushed the margin to 13-5.

That seemed to light a fire under the feisty visitors, however, as they fought all the way back to force a tie at 18-18.

Bumping the intensity up just a notch or two, the Wolves broke the tie with five straight points, thanks to strong serving from Marti and a pair of big kills from Issabel Johnson — only to see Neah Bay respond with its own five-point tear.

Knotted at 23-23, the set could have gone either way, but the Red Devils kindly botched the next two points, allowing CHS coach Ashley Menges to exhale and call for a refill on her water from mom Jennifer.

Set two wasn’t as quite as collar-tightening, though it did have its escapades.

Marti again staked her squad to an early lead from the service stripe, this time at 5-0, before Neah Bay fought back to knot things at 10-10.

This time, Coupeville pulled away much faster, with Teagan Calkins, Heaton, and Johnson compiling sizzling runs on serve to pace a 15-5 finish.

Along the way, fab frosh Calkins, runnin’ and gunnin’ on the far side of the court, frequently went skyborne, bashing winners which scattered Neah Bay defenders in all directions.

With the match in hand, the third set was just for practice, but both squads took it quite seriously, continuing the back-and-forth battle.

While the Red Devils claimed the early lead, Coupeville snatched the advantage for good at 11-10 on another booming spike off of Johnson’s explosive fingertips.

Taylor Brotemarkle, spinning the ball and droppin’ aces, led the attack at the service line, while Marti ran off five straight points and Grier Mooney ended the match with a resounding ace down the middle of the floor.

Menges got strong work from all nine Wolves in uniform, with Carly Burt, Chloe Marzocca, and Aby Wood also aiding the stellar group effort.

Saturday stats:

Taylor Brotemarkle — 5 digs, 1 assist, 5 aces
Teagan Calkins — 4 kills, 4 aces
Jada Heaton — 4 kills, 1 dig, 3 aces
Issabel Johnson — 4 kills, 6 aces
Katie Marti — 1 kill, 11 assists, 6 aces
Grier Mooney — 1 ace
Aby Wood — 2 kills

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Kill-happy Wolves crunch MVC

Posted in Volleyball, tagged CHS Wolves, Mia Farris, Mount Vernon Christian, Ryanne Knoblich, volleyball on October 13, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Mia Farris was one of three Wolves to hammer 10 or more kills in a win Thursday night. (Jackie Saia photo)

The snipers were hitting their targets.

Three different players recorded 10+ kills Thursday night, with another two notching five apiece, as the Coupeville High School varsity volleyball squad surged to its sixth win in its last seven matches.

Bouncing back from a tentative start, the Wolf spikers unloaded on host Mount Vernon Christian to the tune of 23-25, 25-18, 25-21, 25-14.

With the victory, CHS moves to 6-0 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 7-3 overall.

The Wolves, who host non-conference foe Neah Bay Saturday, sit alone atop the NWL standings, a half-game up on three-time defending 2B state champs La Conner (5-0), and a game ahead of MVC (6-2).

Coupeville has three league matches left, travelling to La Conner Oct. 18, before closing with home matches Oct. 20 against Darrington (3-5) and Oct. 25 against La Conner.

Win, lose, or draw the rest of the way, the Wolves are playoff-bound after that. All that’s left to decide is the draw.

Of the three 2B schools in the NWL, two teams advance to the postseason and Friday Harbor (1-8) is eliminated.

The District 1/2 tourney is Nov. 2 in La Conner, with the #2 team from District 1 playing District 2’s Auburn Adventist Academy in a loser-out match.

The winner then faces off with the NWL champ in a winner-to-state, loser-out rumble.

The battle to unseat La Conner will become the primary mission in the coming days, but Thursday night was about holding off the Hurricanes, who have been on a torrid run.

Mission accomplished.

“A good win tonight against a much-improved Mt. Vernon Christian team,” said Coupeville coach Cory Whitmore.

“We knew they would be tough and I’m proud of the way the girls shook off a little bit of a flat first set and turned it on moving forward.

“The girls got rid of the hesitation on defense and returned to our unified culture and play.”

Coupeville misfired a bit at the service stripe in the early going, but successfully righted things.

“Took a bit to find a groove on serves but once we did, our defense was strong behind the block,” Whitmore said.

“Madison McMillan went on a run of serves in the fourth (set), which opened things up.”

With Grey Peabody (13 kills), Ryanne Knoblich (10), and Mia Farris (10) pounding the rock, Coupeville’s attack kept the Hurricanes on their toes.

“All our hitters hit positive on the attack and (setter) Maddie (Georges) did a great job keeping everyone involved but pushing points when needed,” Whitmore said.

“I was very happy with our passers, and it took stamina to finish the game strong on serve receive.”

“Dang! We’re good!!” (Jackie Saia photo)

Thursday stats:

Alita Blouin — 27 digs, 2 assists, 1 ace
Mia Farris — 10 kills, 1 dig, 1 solo block
Maddie Georges — 1 kill, 7 digs, 39 assists
Taygin Jump — 4 digs, 1 ace
Ryanne Knoblich — 10 kills, 8 digs, 3 aces
Katie Marti — 1 dig, 2 aces
Madison McMillan — 9 digs, 4 aces
Grey Peabody — 13 kills, 3 digs
Jill Prince — 5 kills, 1 dig, 1 ace
Lyla Stuurmans — 5 kills

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Slow start, torrid finale

Posted in Volleyball, tagged CHS Wolves, Issabel Johnson, JV, Mount Vernon Christian, volleyball on October 13, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Jada Heaton whispers to the volleyball, “Sorry, but this is gonna hurt. A lot.” (Bailey Thule photo)

“It was a good night for us, with some really good competition.”

Two matches against Northwest 2B/1B League powerhouse La Conner are ahead on the schedule for the high-flying Coupeville High School JV volleyball squad.

With that in mind, a win Thursday at Mount Vernon Christian was a great confidence builder for the Wolves, something coach Ashley Menges was thrilled to witness.

And CHS got pushed a bit, dropping the first set 25-21, before thrashing the Hurricanes 25-12, 15-3 the rest of the way.

Now a pristine 6-0 in league play, 9-1 overall, the young Wolves carry a seven-match winning streak into a home clash Saturday with non-conference foe Neah Bay.

The La Conner rumbles are Oct. 18 (road) and Oct. 25 (home), but for this night, the win over the Hurricanes was all that mattered.

“Mount Vernon Christian is definitely an improved team, which was really good for us to face,” Menges said.

Coupeville came out a bit cold but flipped the switch when it mattered most.

“Our start was not strong, making weird errors and having hardly any energy,” Menges said.

“However, it did get a lot better throughout the next two sets, proving they can bounce back easily and get back to what we know.”

All in all, a win is a win, and with the best record of any fall sports team at CHS, the JV spikers are hitting their stride.

“Our main focuses for tonight were consistency and communication, which we definitely worked on a lot,” Menges said.

“I’m excited to see that good of competition right before La Conner, because the girls and I are very excited for that one.”

Issabel Johnson dreams about raining down spikes. (Bailey Thule photo)

Thursday stats:

Taylor Brotemarkle — 1 dig, 13 aces
Teagan Calkins — 6 kills
Jada Heaton — 6 kills, 2 aces
Issabel Johnson — 4 kills, 1 ace
Katie Marti — 2 kills, 10 assists, 5 aces
Chloe Marzocca — 2 digs
Grier Mooney — 1 ace
Aby Wood — 1 kill

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“Everyone played well!”

Posted in Middle School, Volleyball, tagged CMS Wolves, Granite Falls, KeeArya Brown, Lexis Drake, volleyball on October 13, 2022| Leave a Comment »

CMS spiker coach Cris Matochi continues to build a strong program. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

Joining Matochi is Coupeville alumni Raven Vick (right), and, occasionally, her sister Willow.

Check another box on the list.

The Coupeville Middle School volleyball teams hit the road for the first time this season, surviving a visit Thursday to the wilds of Granite Falls.

The Wolves opened the season with three straight tilts at home, and now get the flip side, not playing on Whidbey again until Oct. 24.

The tale of the road trip:

Varsity:

Using a new player rotation, the Wolves pushed a high-class Granite squad to the limit before falling 25-23, 25-23.

CMS then rebounded to claim a third practice set 15-13.

The loss evens Coupeville’s record at 2-2 at the halfway point of its eight-match season.

Even in defeat, Wolf coaches Cris Matochi and Raven Vick came away pleased with a lot of what they saw on the floor.

“They played really well and everyone got a chance to have good contacts with the ball,” Vick said.

Coupeville was strong when serving, with Adeline Maynes “having long runs at the line every time she served.”

Tenley Stuurmans was also on fire, opening the second set with a six-point run on serve.

Vick praised the play of Lexis Drake, who “had some great passes and consistent serving,” and Haylee Armstrong, who “had many opportunities to hit the ball and had consistent passing.”

“Rhylin (Price) and Capri (Anter) chipped in with good passing and serving as well,” Vick added.

JV:

Granite claimed the match 25-6, 25-11, but Coupeville roared back to claim a third set 16-14.

The Wolves, now 1-3 on the campaign, got a season-best performance from 6th grader KeeArya Brown.

“KeeArya was on fire tonight with her passing and did well on serving,” Vick said. “She passed 80% of the balls and they were fantastic.”

Alexis Hewitt chipped in with stellar work at the service stripe, and the young Wolves continue to show growth and desire.

“They all played really hard and had good effort,” Vick said. “We struggled with setting up the second ball and that’s what failed us, but they picked it up in the last set to take the win.

“Everyone did their part and they played well.”

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Pics you can dig

Posted in Volleyball, tagged Cheer, CHS Wolves, Dig Pink Night, volleyball, William Davidson on October 12, 2022| Leave a Comment »

William “The Show Pony” Davidson stands tall while rockin’ pink jammies. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

Wolf Nation represented.

Tuesday night the Coupeville High School volleyball teams put on a Dig Pink Night to raise money and awareness in the fight against breast cancer, and it was a success on all fronts.

The Wolves raised $940 for the Whidbey Health Foundation, thanks to ticket sales for raffle items.

Plus, both CHS spiker squads romped to straight-sets victories over visiting Concrete, with a raucous student section and the Wolf cheer squad combining to raise the roof.