Emma Smith had five kills and two blocks Thursday to spark Coupeville to a straight-sets thrashing of 2A Port Angeles. (John Fisken photos)
Hope Lodell was everywhere, racking up eight aces, eight digs and four kills.
Now this is hearsay, and if I was still masquerading as a “responsible journalist,” I probably wouldn’t bring it up.
But I’m a blogger, and not a particularly impartial one, so screw all that.
The word on the streets, and by streets, I mean rippling through the Coupeville High School gym Thursday night, was Port Angeles didn’t want to be there.
Coming from a 2A school, and a big one at that (876 students), the Rough Riders felt they were “too good” to be facing the Wolves (6th smallest 1A school in the state with 227 students) on the volleyball court.
Word is they tried to send their JV team in place of their varsity, but were turned down.
Well, guess what? That JV team might have had better luck.
Because, on this night, the red-hot and rollin’ Cow Town Express flattened the big city folks, smushing them in straight sets in a match which was never, ever close.
The 25-15, 25-21, 25-22 non-conference win lifts Coupeville to 7-2, gives them a five-match winning streak and proves once again — size ain’t nothin’ but a thing.
Port Angeles came in at 5-2 and they left badly scarred, unable to blunt a nasty Wolf service attack, and unable to compete against a team that won as a team.
“We played clean and focused; that’s what I’m excited about,” said CHS coach Cory Whitmore. “We had a nicely balanced offense, nearly everyone was in the positive on their hitting percentages and all our stats were pretty evenly distributed across the board.”
The only time Coupeville trailed in the first set was at 1-0, and the Wolves quickly corrected that.
Riding a hot streak at the service line from Hope Lodell, who was bobbing and weaving and jumping out of her shoes (like usual) as she fired BB’s, the Wolves went up 5-1 and never looked back.
Payton Aparicio lashed a scorching winner right down the line to kick-start things, and her teammates quickly followed her example.
Making her grandpa sit up proudly in the stands, Emma Smith whipped several spikes off of Rough Rider arms and legs, before Tiffany Briscoe capped the set with an especially emphatic put-away.
Mom Amy Briscoe came a bit unglued in the post-winner celebration, though little did she know she’d later top it when her daughter went skyward to stuff a Port Angeles spike.
“Was that Tiffany? Was THAT Tiffany?!,” laughed CHS softball coach Kevin McGranahan as the Briscoe clan shimmied in their seats.
The Rough Riders put together a brief rally to open the second set, lurching to a 7-3 lead before the very-calm Wolves settled right back into a groove.
A note-perfect tip off of Katrina McGranahan’s index finger, which split two defenders and skipped away for a winner, swung the momentum back to the home side.
From there, it was back to ripping serves Port Angeles could do little with (whether it was McGranahan, Ashley Menges or Valen Trujillo at the line) and big put-aways from the heavy hitters.
Rising up with a vengeance, Mikayla Elfrank ripped some flesh off of rival thighs with a laser that tattooed at least two Rough Riders.
Not to be outdone, Lodell responded quickly, going airborne, reaching far back over her head while twisting her body into a pretzel, then uncorking a blast that sent a sonic boom rippling through the gym.
In response, proud papa Mike Lodell made a sound not unlike that of a kid hitting puberty while also learning to sing heavy metal for the first time.
Putting a final stamp on the night, Coupeville closed like a boss.
With Port Angeles having crept within 23-21 in the third set, the Wolves tied the ribbon on the big-school butt-whuppin’ with back-to-back Sports Center highlights.
Elfrank exploded a winner off the back-line, making a Rough Rider in the back row swing and miss, then Lodell, twirling the ball like a gunslinger twirling her six-shooter, zipped a service ace for Coupeville’s 75th, and final, point.
As Whitmore said, the stats were very balanced.
Lodell led the Wolves with eight service aces, eight digs and four kills, while Trujillo had six aces, seven digs and a virtually flawless passing percentage.
Menges (11) and Lauren Rose (9) shared the assist load, with Smith smashing a team-high five kills and collecting a season-high two blocks.
McGranahan (four kills, five aces and a block), Briscoe (three kills, a block), Elfrank (three kills) and Menges (three aces) rounded out the attack.
