First-year CHS volleyball coach Cory Whitmore has guided the Wolf spikers to their first league title since 2004. (John Fisken photo)
Your 2016 1A Olympic League volleyball champions. (Photo courtesy Konni Smith)
It took Cory Whitmore 12 matches to do something not accomplished in the previous 11 seasons.
The first-year Coupeville High School volleyball coach led the Wolves to their first league title since 2004, clinching with a straight-sets win Thursday at Port Townsend.
The 25-19, 25-17, 25-23 victory lifts the Wolves to 6-0 in 1A Olympic League play, 9-3 overall.
While it has three regular season matches left, Coupeville is three games up on Chimacum and Klahowya (both 3-3), and owns tiebreakers on both schools, having already beaten them both twice.
Next up for the Wolves?
Making a run at going 9-0 in league play, a feat accomplished the past two seasons by the CHS girls’ basketball team, but never by a league volleyball team.
In 2014 and 2015 Klahowya went 6-0 and won back-to-back titles, before the league schedule was expanded to nine matches this season to sync up with baseball, softball, soccer and basketball.
The Wolves can also continue their run at the school single-season record for wins — 13 in 2004 — and get ready to open postseason play at home.
As the #1 seed from the Olympic League, Coupeville advances to the double-elimination portion of districts, an event they host Nov. 5.
They’ll need to win two matches that day, while losing no more than one, to advance to state.
To see the bracket, pop over to: http://www.olympicleague.com/tournament.php?tournament_id=2069&sport=10
The league title is the fourth in program history, following Northwest League titles in 1997, 2001 and 2004.
Kim Meche coached the first two of those teams, while Toni Crebbin was in command of the record-setting ’04 team, which also won a tri-district title and toppled the #1 ranked team in the state.
Those Wolves split four matches with arch-rival La Conner, the state champ that year, beating the Braves for the league title, but falling to them at the big dance.
Thursday night, CHS didn’t play lights out, but it stayed in control all match and put the hammer down when appropriate.
“It was good to pull out the win tonight on the road playing everyone,” Whitmore said. “The girls worked hard to be in the position to be league champions.
“To accomplish this and clinch first place is a result of that hard work and a goal met.”
The Wolves spread out the stats, with Ashley Menges (11 assists and five service aces), Lauren Rose (eight assists, four aces) and Hope Lodell (five kills, five digs) leading the attack.
Sarah Wright cranked out a season-high four kills, while senior captain Valen Trujillo led the squad with 17 digs as she continued to add to her school career record.
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