Grace Roberts was a standout in her first middle school volleyball match. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)
Sometimes you improvise.
Langley never showed Wednesday, seemingly ending the afternoon early for Coupeville Middle School volleyball players bouncing off the gym walls in anticipation of their first match of the season.
“To those of you who left work early to come watch your daughters and granddaughters play, I’m sorry,” said CMS Athletic Director Willie Smith.
“I could pay you for the time you missed at work … but, nope, not doing that,” he said with a big grin, easing the mood in the room as he exited the gym.
But, even after finding out Coupeville’s next-door neighbors would be a no-show, there were still fans in the stands, and a ref waiting to conduct business.
So Wolf coaches Cris Matochi and Katie Kiel improvised, turning the day into a mix of a practice and a scrimmage — both a learning experience and a chance for many of the first-time players to work out jitters playing in front of people.
High school coaches Cory Whitmore and Ashley Menges were in the stands, scanning the talent, and while the photographer vanished pre-camera click, this writer stayed around.
The two-set scrimmage featured players from Level One and Level Two mixed together at a moment’s notice, in a bid to balance the competition.
Also, as play went on, both coaches got more involved in the action than in a normal match, often working on the court to teach valuable lessons and tweak player’s style of play.
Serving carried the day, with nine different Wolves winning points off their work at the line.
Jordaya Dowell had the hottest hand, rolling up 11 points on her serve, including eight straight points in the second set.
Also coming hot ‘n heavy with the approach shots were Teagan Calkins (6), Brynn Parker (5), Carly Burt (5), Grace Roberts (4), and Capri Anter (3).
Capri Anter impressed her coaches Wednesday, delivering her “best serves so far.”
Heidi Lysene (2), Haylee Armstrong (1), and Willow Leedy-Bonifas (1) rounded out the Wolves to score off their serves.
While sustaining rallies is a skill which a lot of the young Wolves are still learning, there were a couple of extended back-and-forth battles, and a lot of standout individual plays.
Sixth-grader Tenley Stuurmans — playing in front of proud big sis Lyla, a ferocious freshman currently terrorizing rival high school players with her wicked spikes — came out firing like a gunfighter headed to a high noon shootout.
If that gunfighter also took dance breaks during warmups.
Tenley Stuurmans popped a pretty drop shot for a winner, hit the floor while angling another ball over the net for a point, then teamed up with Calkins for the day’s best precision play.
On that one, Calkins went low to field a sharply-hit serve by Ava Carpenter, flicked the ball skyward, then bounced to her feet as Stuurmans lofted a precision set.
Completing the fairly-flawless one-two-three series, Calkins split the defense with a surgical strike of a kill, setting off a celebration by her teammates.
Seventh-grader Grace Roberts, playing in the same gym older sister Ally once ruled as a spike-happy volleyball basher, complemented her strong serves with two plays on which she hit winners while on the move.
Also coming up big with hits for points were Myra McDonald and Adeline Maynes.
Abbigail Bond, Rhylin Price, Inara Maund, Natalie Perera, Ava Ashby, Alexis Hewitt, and Isabella de Souza Oliveira round out the Wolf roster, and their coaches came away pleased with how their players handled things.
“Turned out to be a good day after all!,” Kiel said.
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