When she wasn’t flicking sets, Maddie Georges was lights-out at the service stripe Wednesday, helping the Coupeville JV spikers thrash visiting Sultan. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
Pick your poison.
The Coupeville High School JV volleyball squad can kill you in numerous ways, from scorching service aces to blistering kills to lil’ tips.
And the Wolves brought everything in the tool box Wednesday, bedeviling Sultan on the way to a 25-10, 25-16, 25-19 victory on the floor of the CHS gym.
The win lifts Coupeville to 4-1 in North Sound Conference play, 6-2 overall.
After pushing powerhouse King’s all around the court for much of Monday’s razor-thin three-set loss, the Wolves came out ready to thump on Sultan.
It started with Abby Mulholland dancing at the net, blasting a pair of kills which tore off the back line, then veered to Kylie Chernikoff going nuclear on the ball, before Heidi Meyers started droppin’ service aces like a finely-tuned machine.
While there were three ties in the early going, the last one at 7-7, the Wolves started to pull ahead after Meyers made a four-point run on serve.
Another spike off of Mulholland’s fingers stretched the lead to 13-10, secured a side-out, and put the ball into the hands of Maddie Georges.
At which point Mad Dog got crazy.
The freshmen setter stayed at the service stripe for the remainder of the set, ripping off 12 straight points on serve.
Georges got a wee bit of help from Chernikoff, who tore a girl’s leg off with a laser of a spike, Taygin Jump, who mashed a winner while hanging in midair, and Ryanne Knoblich, who dropped in a bump winner while on the move.
But 92.3% of the time, it was Georges doing the damage during the 12-0 run, zipping aces to the right, to the left, then right down the middle of the floor.
The only thing which slowed her roll was the end of the set, which required a change of benches, and the introduction of new servers to the line.
Her replacements immediately picked up where Georges left off.
Jill Prince and Jaimee Masters served up a tasty buffet of aces, while Anya Leavell operated as an assassin, picking off rivals with a variety of spikes which sliced, diced and julienned anyone who got in their way.
While Sultan got closer as the match played out, the third set offered up a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde-style transformation.
Fresh from losing the first two sets, the Turks shocked the world by roaring out to an 8-0 lead, eventually gave it all back, then collapsed at the end.
Georges started the comeback, with a second strong run on serve, with Knoblich, Mulholland, and Gwen Gustafson bringing the pain at the net.
Back-to-back winners from Prince, on a spike, then a tip, knotted things at 15-15, before pushing the Wolves ahead for the first time in the final frame.
Sultan kept it close, only to see Knoblich deliver back-to-back aces to stretch the lead back out.
With the match roaring to the finish line, Coupeville crafted the best play of the entire match while up 23-18.
Wolf libero Alita Blouin, who spent the entire match sacrificing her body for the good of the team, sliding across the floor, collecting digs by scraping balls off the floor, sprinkled some magic on the floor.
Making a spectacular diving save on a ball which was all but dead, she flipped the ball skyward, setting up Mulholland, who came crashing through and blasted the ball for what seemed to be the decisive final word.
Except Gustafson went her one better on the very next, and very final, play, twirling into the air, freezing for a second, then unloading a match-ending kill which blew the doors off the gym.
Like I said, pick your poison, cause they’re all going to kill you.
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