Ashley Menges teamed with Lauren Rose Saturday to set up their teammates for a non-stop barrage of kills. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
Coupeville won all 27 sets it played this season against its 1A Olympic League rivals. (Photo courtesy Cory Whitmore)
They would not be denied this time.
A year ago, the Coupeville High School volleyball squad was nearly perfect in league play, finishing 8-1, with just a loss to Klahowya slightly marring the record.
Saturday, the Wolf spikers achieved perfection, crushing host Port Townsend in straight sets to not only finish 9-0 in conference action, but a flawless 27-0 in sets played.
The 25-10, 25-10, 25-20 drubbing of the RedHawks lifts Coupeville to 12-2 overall heading into the postseason, and the back-to-back Olympic League champs are just one win shy of the program record for victories in a season.
They can tie the 2004 squad by achieving what no Wolf volleyball team has done since that squad — punch their ticket to the state tourney.
To do so, Coupeville needs to win at least one out of two matches at districts Nov. 4 in Tacoma.
But that’s a week away, and, on this Saturday, it’s all about the celebration of finishing off the regular season in style.
“I’m pleased with where we are at and very proud of finishing league play strong,” CHS coach Cory Whitmore said. “I’m so happy for these girls and their hard work paying off in spades.
“Now we push into playoffs and try to play a couple more weeks.”
Coupeville didn’t want to look past Port Townsend, which upset Klahowya last week and is always a scrappy foe.
“I was really happy with our focus and execution in the first two sets especially,” Whitmore said. “Lauren (Rose) and Ashley (Menges) did a great job of distributing the offense and our passing was very strong, allowing us to utilize our middles.
“In set three we mixed things us a bit, getting everyone involved, which took us a minute to settle into, but then when we did, our offense could take over.”
Katrina McGranahan paced that offense, ripping off eight kills, while Mikayla Elfrank (6) and Emma Smith (5) backed her up.
Hope Lodell (12) and Kyla Briscoe (5) spent a good part of their afternoon scraping digs off the floor, with Rose and Payton Aparicio dropping five aces apiece from the service stripe.
JV roars to another win:
Coupeville’s young guns wrapped up their own undefeated romp through league play, pasting Port Townsend in straight sets.
First-year JV coach Chris Smith led his squad to a 12-1 record overall, 9-0 in conference action.
Add in the C-Team (4-0, 3-0), which had the day off, and Wolf volleyball is 28-3 overall, 21-0 in league play this season.
