Maddie Georges was electric at the service line Tuesday, leading the Coupeville High School JV volleyball team to another win. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
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Zinging nasty serves from every angle Tuesday, the Coupeville High School JV volleyball spikers were more than visiting South Whidbey could handle.
Much more.
Riding their saucy service game, the Wolves romped to a 25-9, 26-24 win, then played a third set just for kicks and (somewhat surprisingly) dropped that one 25-21.
Not that it mattered much, as the W was already recorded in the big book, lifting Coupeville’s young guns to 2-0 in North Sound Conference play, 3-1 overall.
The JV’s only defeat came against 2A Anacortes in a closely-fought rumble, but there would be no such shenanigans on this night.
Coupeville came out swinging hot from the first serve — which was actually put up in the air by the visiting Falcons.
After a brief rally, Lucy Tenore buried a kill down the middle of the floor, and once the ball was in the Wolves hands, the set was as good as done.
Maddie Georges led off for CHS, and Mad Dog was barkin’ big time, running off eight points on her serve as Coupeville blew out to a 9-0 lead.
The Wolves ended up not even going through their full rotation of servers in the first set, as they only needed four players to get the job done.
Taygin Jump followed Georges by throwing down seven straight points of her own on serve, before Alita Blouin and Jaimee Masters closed out the set with aces that smashed off of faces, tore arms off of rival players, and left burn marks on the gym floor.
South Whidbey did get some of the serves back in play, but then quickly ran into a rampaging Kylie Chernikoff, who spent the night flexing mad skills, as she bashed the life out of the volleyball.
Chernikoff mixed in a couple of sweet tips, freezing the Falcon players in position, before sliding the ball into tiny gaps, but it was her power game which left a lasting impression.
There were several moments to choose from, but her best play probably came at 17-6, when she came thundering towards the net, elevated, and launched a smoking hot kill which exploded down the left sideline and vanished out the gym door.
The Wolves didn’t let up in the second set, though they did have to dig a little deeper to get over the top and close out the win.
Blouin had the magic touch at the service stripe this time around, zipping a series of aces, and getting some help from her teammates.
Abby Mulholland made a nice running save to keep a rally alive, while she and Ivy Leedy teamed up to stuff a South Whidbey hitter at the net right after Georges slid across the floor on her stomach to prevent the Falcons from ending the point.
Everyone chipped in, with Jump, Tenore, and Chernikoff spraying winners, Anya Leavell and Heidi Meyers chipping in with hustle plays, and the win was sealed on a play which perfectly summed up the night.
Hanging in the air, Chernikoff crushed a kill, and the ball hit the top of the net with an audible bang.
For a second, it looked like the shot wouldn’t clear the barrier, but then the net, already in serious pain, whimpered and gave up, shrinking away and letting the ball gently flop over and drop to the floor with a pleasing plop for point #50.
With no ferries to catch, and plenty of time left before the scheduled start of the varsity match, the two teams agreed to get a little exhibition-style work in with a third set.
Masters brought out some appropriately scary service winners to spark the Wolves, while Jump was everywhere in the third set, with most of her shots exploding off of Falcon bodies.
Coupeville Sports 