Wolf 7th graders (l to r) Ivy Leedy, Lacy McCraw-Shirron, Jaimee Masters and Alexis Czarnik bask in the glow of their first win. (Alysabeth Bonifas photo)
We’re coming for all your wins! (Konni Smith photo)
No answers.
That’s what Chimacum had Thursday, as the Coupeville Middle School volleyball squads thrashed their visitors in straight sets to kick off a new season.
Both Wolf squads were made up of players who were too tall, too quick, too efficient, too confident, too composed and too talented for the overwhelmed Eagles to have much of a fighting chance.
Whether it was the tall, graceful “Terminator Twins” — big-hitting CMS 7th graders Morgan Pease and Chelsea Prescott — or the unstoppable force of nature known as Melia Welling, who served 18 straight winners during one stretch in the 8th grade match, Coupeville was on point all afternoon.
The 7th graders presented new head coach Casie Dunleavy with a 25-12, 25-15, 25-23 win that was much more of a rout than the score might indicate, before the Wolf 8th graders cruised 25-6, 25-15, 25-8.
Wolf prodigy Savannah Smith kick-started the rampage, reeling off five straight points at the service stripe, to open the 7th grade match.
The younger sister of high school VB star Emma Smith, Savannah might have run the entire first set, but 7th grade matches require a change of servers after five points, giving Chimacum a brief moment to catch its breath.
At which point Prescott, a lean, mean, fastball-firing machine on the baseball diamond, slid behind the service stripe and unleashed a shot that burned the top of the net on its way across and scattered the Eagle returners like so many falling pins on a bowling alley.
With Jaimee Masters, Emily Fiedler, Megan Behan and Genna Wright all taking turns dominating on serve (Wright was unleashing cannon shots), CMS cruised.
Then Prescott and Pease took control and Chimacum’s players all started edging closer and closer to the protection of the bench.
At 23-15 in the second set, Prescott skied high and delivered the afternoon’s one truly scary spike, shredding her foes kneecaps with a laser.
When she added an especially hard-hit ace in the third set, it looked like it would be the most fearsome serve of the day, until Pease went her one better, unleashing a bomb that exploded off the back-line and drilled itself into the gym wall.
Coupeville High School players in the stands exchanged side glances and began to mentally compute if they’ll still be in school when the Terminator Twins arrive on the scene.
More than one sigh of relief was heard from current juniors and seniors.
The 8th graders are just a year away from the big time, but Welling is already ready in many ways.
Coming up third as a server, after Hannah Davidson and Ashleigh Battaglia combined to stake Coupeville to a narrow 7-6 lead in the first set, Welling went off.
It wasn’t just that she ripped off 18 straight winners, but that she did it with every serve echoing through the gym, every serve kicking around, aces slamming off of the shoes of Chimacum players while Welling’s smile got larger and larger.
The few times the Eagles managed to return the ball, Coupeville promptly ended the rally, with Emma Mathusek and Welling sliding into position for picture-perfect tips.
The Wolves actually won 23 straight points, with Scout Smith dropping the hammer for five straight points to open the second set.
Only a serve that narrowly went wide stopped the rampage, but, even then, it was but a small bump in the road.
No matter who CMS 8th grade coach Sadi Foltz sent to the line, the Wolves responded in style.
Willow Vick reeled off six straight, with Jillian Mayne putting away one winner on a tip that froze three Eagles.
Later it was Zoe Trujillo and Maya Toomey-Stout coming up with winners, while Lucy Sandahl and Cassidy Moody combined on back-to-back big hustle plays.
In the end, it may have been only one match. But it felt like a coronation for both Wolf teams.
The future is here, and it is an exciting one for Coupeville volleyball.
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