Ryanne Knoblich spins a ball into play, while Skylar Parker backs her up. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)
The future is a bright one.
The Coupeville High School JV volleyball squad, playing for first-year coach Ashley Menges, were a bold, confident, frequently-inspired squad of heavy hitters and service stripe snipers.
Exiting with a 25-9, 25-15, 15-7 rout of visiting Orcas Island Saturday, the young Wolves finished the pandemic-altered season with a crisp 6-3 record.
Coupeville’s only losses came to La Conner, the premier spiker program in the Northwest 2B/1B League, and all three matches were tough battles.
Saturday’s tilt, played with no fans, was a different affair, as the Wolves jumped on the Vikings early and rarely relented.
Maya Lucero got her team rockin’ with a spike which was nasty enough to make the Orcas players take two steps back, then reconsider and make it four steps instead.
From there, it was time for Jordyn Rogers to step into the spotlight, with her service game garnering much hooting and hollering from the Wolf varsity players — who sounded louder by themselves than a full gym might have.
Rogers ran off a string of seven straight points, stretching a 9-5 lead out to 16-5 and breaking the spirit of the visitors.
Helping her along was Olivia Schaffeld, who pasted a winner off the back line, and Maya Lucero who snuck in to drop an artful tip which froze everyone on the other side of the net.
Everyone in a Wolf uniform was on fire, with Allie Lucero blistering serves to all parts of the court and Grey Peabody patrolling the net with a vengeance.
Grey Peabody is a tower of power.
Thoroughly entertaining themselves, varsity stars Kylie Chernikoff and Maddie Vondrak worked the lines, bringing all the flare at their disposal.
Trying to outdo one another with extra-dramatic waves of their flags while signaling whether a ball was inside the lines or not, the duo kept on upping their game, until Chernikoff nearly did a cartwheel after spinning out of control on one call.
Giggling behind her mask, while Vondrak laughed along on the other side of the floor, Chernikoff and her fellow senior thoroughly enjoyed themselves during the early stage of their final day in a CHS volleyball uniform.
Back on the floor, the JV spikers continued to rain down pain on the Vikings, with Rogers and Allie Lucero combining to win 17 points on serve in the second set.
The third set gave Ryanne Knoblich a chance to test her ability to bash the ball (she passed the test, easily), while Allison Nastali, Skylar Parker, and Gwen Gustafson all excelled during their stints on the floor.
La Conner escaped this season, maybe, but Coupeville is young, scrappy, and hungry. Watch out for the pack that hunts together.
Gwen Gustafson dreams of future wins.
