Coupeville Sports

Lexis Drake (5) and Isa Mc Fetridge both delivered strong performances in a win Thursday against Concrete. (Leann Leavitt photo)

Rack ’em up and knock ’em down.

Winning for the second time in less than 24 hours, the Coupeville High School varsity volleyball squad swept visiting Concrete off the floor in style Thursday night.

Rolling to a neat ‘n tidy 25-15, 25-17, 25-15 victory, the Wolves get to 3-1 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 3-4 overall.

Looking fresh and fancy free even after traveling back and forth to Friday Harbor a day earlier, then attending school before hitting the court again, the CHS spikers were in control from start to finish.

The first few moments Thursday were a virtual highlight reel, with Tenley Stuurmans launching lasers from the service stripe, while freshmen Rhylee Inman and Zariyah Allen crunched winners at the net.

Coupeville remained hot on its serve, with Capri Anter, Willow Leedy-Bonifas, Haylee Armstrong, and Isa Mc Fetridge all putting together positive scoring streaks with the volleyball in their hands.

A crosscourt smash for a winner from Kennedy O’Neill kept the Lion defenders fidgety, while a resounding block from Lexis Drake denied Concrete a chance to fire up its own offense.

Point by point, Coupeville steadily built a substantial lead, and never let the visitors get into a rhythm, with Inman, Arianna Cunningham, and Drake closing out the first set with dramatic putaway shots.

Set #2 was more of the same positive vibes for the Wolves, with the student section starting to ramp up the noise in support.

Leedy-Bonifas put together a long, successful run on her serve, with Cunningham providing able support with a variety of shots which baffled and bedazzled the Lions, before Mc Fetridge slammed the door shut with her own stellar serves.

The entire match could be summed up in one late point, as the teams scrapped through a sustained rally, players on both sides coming up with saves to keep suspense in the air.

Until Cunningham elevated and smashed the crud out of the volleyball, scattering Lions in both directions with a wicked kill to bring an end to all that nonsense.

Capri Anter dreams of aces. (Bettie Sifuentes-Hart photo)

Concrete made a last-ditch stand in the third set, jumping out to its only lead of the night at 4-0 and holding on to the advantage until Anter strolled to the service line.

Firing off missiles on her grandpa Sean’s birthday, the Wolf senior turned a 6-4 deficit into a 9-6 lead, and Coupeville never looked back.

Armstrong followed her cousin’s lead shortly afterwards, ripping off her own five-point service run, before Cunningham pounded in the last nail on Concrete’s coffin with four more points.

Well, next-to-last nail.

The final exclamation point came courtesy Stuurmans, who hit the ball like a woman who wants to see if she can make the orb explode, delivering one last kill to haunt the Lions as they try and go to sleep tonight.

Thursday stats:

Zariyah Allen — 2 kills, 1 dig
Capri Anter — 6 digs, 4 aces
Haylee Armstrong — 4 digs, 4 assists, 3 aces
Arianna Cunningham — 10 kills, 5 digs, 2 aces
Lexis Drake — 2 kills, 1 solo block
Rhylee Inman — 3 kills
Willow Leedy-Bonifas — 11 digs, 4 aces
Isa Mc Fetridge — 5 digs, 2 aces
Kennedy O’Neill — 1 kill
Tenley Stuurmans — 4 kills, 3 digs, 15 assists, 2 solo blocks, 5 aces

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