Senior Lauren Rose had 13 assists and five aces Tuesday as first-place Coupeville crushed Chimacum. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)
Six players firing as one.
When they’re on, they’re on.
The Coupeville High School varsity volleyball squad has played seven regular-season matches this year, and six times they have left the court with a straight-sets win.
Tuesday was more of the same, as the Wolves overpowered visiting Chimacum in every aspect of the game, cruising to a 25-17, 25-9, 25-18 win which cemented Coupeville’s status as the front-runner in the Olympic League.
Now 4-0 in conference play, 6-1 overall, CHS sits a game-and-a-half up on Klahowya (2-1, 3-5), while Chimacum (1-3, 1-5) and Port Townsend (0-3, 1-6) bring up the rear.
The Wolves, who are chasing back-to-back league titles, have a two-week gap before any more league matches.
They’ll fill the time by facing off with a pair of 2A schools — Port Angeles on the road Oct. 5 and Sequim at home Oct. 10 — before playing their final five league matches between Oct. 17-28.
If Coupeville can keep things clicking at their current levels, or take it up a notch or two, it seems primed for a strong postseason run.
At their best, the Wolves are a lethal team from the service stripe, with two strong setters (Lauren Rose and Ashley Menges) setting up a squad of kill-happy snipers.
What few points Chimacum got Tuesday came more from Coupeville’s occasional over-eagerness to destroy the ball than anything the Cowboys were able to create.
The lone exception was junior outside hitter Renee Woods, who peppered the Wolves with several strong runs at the service line.
Coupeville countered with a team-wide ace explosion, raining down 22 of the beauties.
High-impact servers Hope Lodell and Payton Aparicio lashed six apiece, while knuckleballer Rose, who has never missed a serve in her entire life, added another five.
The Wolves never trailed for a single second in the match, running out to large leads in every set, and it started with their service game.
Take the first set, where Rose opened the night with a run of five straight points.
The first came on an emphatic stuff from a hyped-up Mikayla Elfrank, which sent a bolt of energy through the Wolf football team which had gathered to cheer on their classmates.
That was closely followed by Lodell cranking a winner while stuck in the middle of the court, and the winners just kept coming.
Numerous Wolves jumped into the fray in the early going, and they all seemed to have the golden touch.
Whether it was Katrina McGranahan with a tip which froze two Cowboys in place, Kyla Briscoe with a slicing kill that carved off a rival’s kneecap, or Emma Smith exploding a winner off the back line, if it came from Wolf fingertips, it was deadly and delightful.
Lodell closed the set with an eight-point run at the line, throwing herself skyward to unleash a series of crippling serves which left the increasingly frustrated Cowboys clawing helplessly at air as the ball skidded by their arms.
It wasn’t going to get any better from there for Chimacum, a competent but, at least on this night, not very inspired squad.
Coupeville, on the other hand, continually found new ways to delight its fans.
Super sophomore Scout Smith reached behind her head while airborne, corralled a ball, then flicked it forward for a surprise winner, while Emma Smith dipped to the floor to pull off a miracle save on a ball off the net.
Somehow keeping the rally alive, Emma Smith gave Aparicio time to arrive behind her with a full head of steam built up, and the senior sharpshooter ended the point with a bang, slugging the crud out of the ball.
While the CHS varsity has a senior-heavy roster, the young guns had their moment to shine, as well.
Sophomore Maya Toomey-Stout ran off nine straight points on her serve, with her play glistening as brightly as her new shoes, while freshman Chelsea Prescott made her varsity debut in the second set.
The Wolves capped things with another burst of creativity in the final set, mixing in the power of Briscoe and Elfrank, who were twin titans of terror, with a tip for a winner on which Emma Smith seemed to defy the laws of gravity.
Going airborne, the elegant warrior hung motionless for a lifetime, then, right before having to return to the surly confines of Earth, used a couple of graceful finger-tips to direct a wayward ball one way while the Cowboy defense went the other.
The match, which had been over for a long time prior, officially ended on yet another blow off the fist of Briscoe, who was one of five Wolves to collect four or more kills on the night.
McGranahan (5), Elfrank (5), Aparicio (4), Briscoe (4) and Scout Smith (4) took full advantage of the balls set up for them by Rose (13 assists) and Menges (12), who were on top of their game as a two-headed setter supreme.
Lodell and Aparicio paced the Wolves with three digs apiece. Though, to be honest, Coupeville spent very little time having to deal with any full-scale Chimacum attacks.
While there is always room for improvement, CHS coach Cory Whitmore wore a relaxed smile as he assessed his team’s performance.
“I felt like we had moments of brilliance,” he said. “We built momentum and finished strongly.
“I especially liked that when I called timeouts, they not only made the fixes we needed to, but they anticipated what I was going to say and were already prepared to correct what needed to be corrected.”
