Taygin Jump, here firing up a serve, was a rock Thursday for the Coupeville Middle School 8th grade varsity volleyball squad. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
It might still be going on.
Thursday’s middle school volleyball rumble between Coupeville and visiting Lakewood featured four matches, one stunning reversal, and a running time of well over three hours.
It was so long, I can’t honestly say I was there for the entire thing, as a Booster Club meeting plucked me from the gym midway through the day’s third match.
At which point things had already been unfolding for two-and-a-half hours, all backed by the screams of 10,000 hyped-up middle school girls trapped in one small gym.
So, here’s what I know:
I had to ankle for the exit midway through the 7th grade varsity, which Coupeville eventually lost 25-10, 25-6, 25-14.
I also completely missed the 7th grade JV, which apparently put up a spirited battle in a narrow 25-18, 25-15 defeat.
Before I bailed on the 7th graders, Jill Prince and Melanie Navarro (both 8th graders helping fill out a thin roster) delivered strong plays to send a jolt through the Wolf fans.
Navarro popped a nice shot in between two Lakewood players, triggering a return shot into the net, while Prince thumped the afternoon’s most distinctive spike.
And, with that, we’re on to the 8th grade.
JV:
One close set, one not so close set, in a 25-20, 25-7 loss to a school which funnels its players on to a fairly large 2A high school.
Maya Lucero and Ryanne Knoblich smoked impressive aces while on serve, while Prince, who was making her season debut, pulled off a play which doubled as a great recovery and a winner, all in one.
Going low to stab at a quickly-dropping serve, Prince caught the ball with the tips of her fingers and spun it back across the net while sliding to one knee.
Not only did the ball arc back across the barrier, it then flung itself to the floor between a pair of surprised Lakewood players and skipped merrily away before a rally could break out.
Ultimately the visitors were just too on-point with their own serving for the Wolves to get much going, but Lucero did put together a quality run at the line in a one-woman effort to balance things out.
Varsity:
Talk about a plot twist.
If you saw only the first set, you wouldn’t have believed the score of the second set. And vice versa.
Little went right for the Wolves in the opening frame, as Lakewood, lashing one laser serve after another, roared out to a 16-0 lead en route to a 25-3 win.
Heck, toss out a Lucy Tenore tip, in which she froze a rival and dumped the ball right in front of her for a winner, and we can just say nothing went right.
And then everything changed in a snap.
Powered by (high-jumping) Taygin Jump, who went on a crusade of dropping in winners with quick flicks over her shoulder, Coupeville found its mojo and roared back to win the second set 25-19.
While the Wolves couldn’t pull the match out, falling 25-18 in a tightly-contested final set, the turn-around was remarkable.
Once they got going, the CMS spikers served strongly, chased down balls they had no business getting to, and got quite efficient at smacking winners.
And it came from everyone on the floor.
Alita Blouin, who ran off four straight aces on her serve midway through the second set, also had a superb dig in which she popped the ball back into play while sprawled on the floor.
Her teammates — Gwen Gustafson, Hayley Fiedler, Maddie Georges, Vivian Farris, Jump and Tenore — all chipped in with hustle plays, before Fiedler closed out set #2 with a wicked serve.
The final set was all-out war, with Georges and Tenore firing off an assortment of dazzling serves, while Jump was a young woman in constant motion.
Locking down the right side of the floor, she continually thwarted Lakewood, using a variety of moves to drop winning shots, each one hitting like a dagger.
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