Coupeville High School spikers (l to r) Kylie Chernikoff, Maddie Vondrak, and Chelsea Prescott will be seniors this fall. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
Everything is in flux, but that doesn’t mean we can’t take a look into the possible future.
If Washington state high schools return to athletic competition by the fall, we know Coupeville is moving from the 1A North Sound Conference to the Northwest 2B/1B League.
As the Wolves drop down a classification to 2B for at least the next four years, they’ll go from having the smallest student body in their league to the largest.
With new league foes, there will be new challenges, and none comes bigger than La Conner volleyball.
The Braves have won back-to-back state 2B titles, and haven’t lost a league match in at least nine years.
I say “at least” because I don’t really know the answer to that question, though I am looking.
The Northwest League site only has records back through 2011, and the La Conner spikers are 79-0 in conference play between 2011-2019.
I’ve been in contact with Braves coach Suzanne Marble, and she said she would try and get back to me at some point with a definite answer.
Though, as she said with a laugh, “I don’t want you to jinx us!”
No matter what number the streak sits at, La Conner undoubtedly is the team every other 2B volleyball program is chasing.
Fall schedules for most of Coupeville’s sports teams have been quietly landing online in recent days. I’ve already published football, and soccer is on its way, while cross country and tennis are not yet set.
Looking at the volleyball sked, it shows all eight Northwest Conference schools playing the sport, though the setup for games is a bit staggered.
Coupeville will play three matches apiece against the other 2B schools — La Conner, Friday Harbor, and Chimacum, which makes the jump from the Olympic League as it also drops from 1A to 2B.
Meanwhile, the Wolves will take to the court just once against the 1B schools — Concrete, Darrington, Orcas Island, and Mount Vernon Christian.
The schedule as it currently sits, some five months-plus ahead of the first match, has 14 bouts, with 13 of them being conference tilts.
The lone non-league matchup is against our next-door neighbor, South Whidbey, keeping alive the tradition of the Wolves and Falcons lacing up their shoes and having at it in a bid for Island supremacy.
As I mentioned, the first match isn’t until mid-September, and even that will depend on how the coronavirus pandemic has played out.
There may be tweaks, and, if I’m still doing this when the time comes, I’ll certainly re-post the schedule in late summer/early fall.
But, for now, it gives everyone something to talk about.
2020 CHS volleyball schedule
(* = league game):
Mon-Sept. 14 — South Whidbey (7:00)
Tues-Sept. 15 — @Concrete (6:30) *
Thur-Sept. 17 — Mount Vernon Christian (7:00) *
Tues-Sept. 22 — Darrington (7:00) *
Thur-Sept. 24 — @Orcas Island (6:30) *
Tues-Sept. 29 — @Friday Harbor (6:30) *
Thur-Oct. 1 — @Chimacum (6:15) *
Tues-Oct. 6 — La Conner (7:00) *
Thur-Oct. 8 — Friday Harbor (7:00) *
Tues-Oct. 13 — Chimacum (7:00) *
Thur-Oct. 15 — @La Conner (6:30) *
Tues-Oct. 20 — @Friday Harbor (6:30) *
Thur-Oct. 22 — @Chimacum (6:15) *
Tues-Oct. 27 — La Conner (7:00) *
Coupeville Sports 