Chelsea Prescott and the high-flying Coupeville High School varsity volleyball squad are off to a 6-0 start after sweeping Granite Falls. (Brian Vick photo)
Is it possible to feel terrible and wonderful at the same time?
Coupeville High School volleyball coach Cory Whitmore, battling illness while enduring a long bus trip to Granite Falls, was ready to hit the hay when he got back to Whidbey Thursday night.
But while he physically felt pretty punk, spiritually he was flying sky-high.
Whitmore’s Wolves cruised to a 25-16, 25-10, 25-15 win on the road, improving to a flawless 3-0 in North Sound Conference play, 6-0 overall.
It’s the best start to a season for a CHS volleyball team since at least 2004, and maybe forever.
Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Famer Toni Crebbin, who was the Wolf coach back in those days, knows that squad finished with just one league loss, but couldn’t immediately remember Thursday at what point in the season that lone defeat occurred.
Until someone goes through old newspaper clippings (yes, yes, I’m on it), we can safely say this year’s 6-0 start eclipses last year’s CHS squad, which started 5-0.
With a trip Saturday to Orcas Island to play a 1-5 non-conference foe, Coupeville is primed to carry a 7-0 mark into next Monday’s titanic league showdown with King’s (3-0, 6-0).
That match will play out in the CHS gym, with tip-off set for 7 PM.
For the moment, the Wolves can bask in the afterglow from a prime-time hit job, one in which they whacked the Tigers thanks to strong performances across the board.
“I’m excited about the win,” Whitmore said. “We came back with a commanding message to another league match-up and it was a big team effort.”
The Wolves sent nine players onto the floor Thursday, and all returned to the bench having scratched their names on the stat sheet.
Coupeville’s spikers combined for five blocks, 18 aces, 33 digs, 37 assists, and 39 kills, stifling Granite Falls at the net, while often never giving their hosts a chance to really get going.
The stat-line:
Hannah Davidson (2 kills, 2 aces, 2 digs)
Emma Mathusek (9 digs, 2 assists)
Chelsea Prescott (9 kills, 4 aces, 5 digs, 1 assist)
Lucy Sandahl (1 ace, 2 digs, 1 assist)
Scout Smith (4 kills, 6 aces, 4 digs, 28 assists)
Maya Toomey-Stout (10 kills, 2 aces, 10 digs, 4 assists, 2 blocks)
Zoe Trujillo (9 kills, 1 assist, 1 block)
Raven Vick (3 aces)
Maddie Vondrak (5 kills, 1 dig, 2 blocks)
Coupeville Sports 