Ashley Menges had five kills, five assists and five aces Thursday as Coupeville routed Friday Harbor. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
They were back in black (uniforms), and bad to the bone.
Pounding the ball with glee, the Coupeville High School varsity volleyball squad opened a new season Thursday in style, savaging visiting Friday Harbor in a display of cold precision mixed with electrifying shot-making.
The Wolves stormed to a huge lead, hit the snooze button for a brief moment in the middle of the match, then flicked things back into over-drive, romping to a 25-8, 25-19, 25-16 win.
“We came out confident and firing in the first set, then got a little too comfortable,” CHS coach Cory Whitmore said. “I was excited with how we responded, though.
“We got some good starting lessons and made steps in the right direction,” he added. “Going forward, we want to continue to put our best foot forward in every match. It was a good first outing.”
Coupeville, coming off its first trip to the state tourney in 13 years, lost seven seniors to graduation.
Two of those spikers, Hope Lodell and Mikayla Elfrank, were in the gym Thursday, with Lodell on the bench as a volunteer assistant coach, and Elfrank winning the hearts of the crowd with the public debut of her new baby daughter.
The mass exodus left the current Wolf roster with just four returning varsity players — Emma Smith, Ashley Menges, Scout Smith and Maya Toomey-Stout — but the new mix of players met with immediate success.
Younger players like Emma Mathusek, Hannah Davidson and Chelsea Prescott stepped into the starting lineup with ease, while Lucy Sandahl, Raven Vick, and Zoe Trujillo contributed strong cameos off the bench.
The Wolves snatched control of the match from the word go, riding six straight points off of serves from Scout Smith to claim an early 7-0 lead.
The junior co-captain smoked an ace off the last bit of paint in the far left corner, then zinged her very next serve right off of the chin of a rival player.
The sting was real, both to the Friday Harbor spiker who crouched, rubbing her chin and praying the ball would go the opposite way after that, and to her teammates, who deflated around her.
Another successful run at the service line, this time from Menges, broke the set wide open, while the rest of the Wolves took turns trying to outdo each other with plays primed for the highlight reel.
Toomey-Stout dropped a gorgeous winner that sliced off a Friday Harbor kneecap as it went by, while Emma Smith decided to see if she could reach up and touch the roof of the gym.
The senior standout, a graceful powerhouse who evokes memories of aunt Joli Smith, a Wolf volleyball legend, caught an elevator straight to the clouds on one play, catching the ball with just the tips of her fingers.
That was enough to re-direct it between two flailing foes for a winner.
A few plays later, she was back at it, this time pounding the snot out of the ball on a spike which ripped a chunk out of the gym floor as it skipped away for a winner.
The second set was basically a mirror image of the first, with Emma Smith once again mangling the hapless volleyball (and potentially giving PTSD to the Friday Harbor players).
Meanwhile Toomey-Stout spent her time hoppin’, hangin’ in mid air for an eternity, then unleashing lasers, while Davidson fired off a variety of aces while on serve.
Up 19-8, Coupeville had its only setback, and it was a self-inflicted one.
While Friday Harbor went on a 10-2 run to pull back within 21-18, it would be hard to point out anything the visitors did to achieve the momentary burst of success.
Pretty much, they kept the ball in play, and the Wolves mentally went out to get a snack, handing away some points.
After a timeout or two, and some gentle words of wisdom from Whitmore, however, CHS got its mojo right back.
Menges fired off a couple more winners from the service stripe, before Prescott popped in from the side, elevating and snapping off a perfectly-placed tip to close out the set.
In the moment, it was like the Coupeville sophomore was Moses and the Friday Harbor players were the Red Sea, as three went one way, three went the other way, and the ball splashed down right in the middle.
The final set, while semi-close in the early going, again allowed the Wolves to showcase their skill-set.
Mathusek, Prescott and Vick all had strong runs on serve, Emma Smith hit the ball so hard it may be permanently bruised, and then there was Toomey-Stout once again doing things that defy the laws of physics.
“The Gazelle,” while hanging in mid-air for a solid 90 seconds, had to reach far behind her head, where a wayward ball was trying to make a run for freedom.
Plan foiled, as Toomey-Stout snagged the orb, her arm flashing forward and driving the ball over the net with sweet vengeance.
I’d like to tell you Friday Harbor tried to make a play in response, but it’s closer to reality to report all six players rocked back on their heels, mouths agape, as the winner cracked the gym floor in half and exploded out the side door.
Meanwhile, Toomey-Stout is still hanging in mid-air and doesn’t appear to be coming down anytime soon.
As they celebrated their opening night win, the Wolves did so as their beaming coach nodded appreciatively as he surveyed a very-balanced stat sheet.
Emma Smith paced the Wolves with seven kills, while fellow senior captain Menges collected five kills, five assists and five service aces.
Scout Smith peppered Friday Harbor for six aces and nine assists, Toomey-Stout collected eight digs and five kills and Davidson pounded out five kills.
