Coupeville Sports

  Monica Vidoni, seen here in an earlier match, was one of five Wolves honored on Senior Night Monday. (John Fisken photos)

  Madeline Strasburg (20), Kacie Kiel (16) and Hailey Hammer (26) brought the same intensity to the Klahowya match that they have displayed all season.

They made the titans tremble a bit.

Sparked by a string of big spikes from their heavy hitters, who were celebrating Senior Night, the Coupeville High School volleyball squad pushed the #9 team in 1A, unbeaten Klahowya, hard Monday night.

And while the Wolves couldn’t quite pull off what would have been a huge upset, falling 25-18, 25-23, 26-24, they walked away heads high.

Part of that is the knowledge that if it plays at this level over its final two matches — at Port Townsend Tuesday and then back home for a rematch with the Redhawks two days later — Coupeville can, and should, grab a playoff berth.

While CHS is 1-9 overall, 1-3 in the Olympic League, they still have a chance to finish anywhere from second to fourth in the four-team league. The top three teams net a ride to the postseason.

Klahowya (13-0, 5-0) already punched its ticket long ago, while Chimacum (4-7, 2-2) and Port Townsend (6-5, 0-3) were set to play late Monday night.

After the Fab Five (seniors Madeline Strasburg, Monica Vidoni, Kacie Kiel, Hailey Hammer and the injured but always photogenic McKayla Bailey) were honored in pre-match festivities, the Wolves came out with little fear.

Led by the forever-young Kiel, who could still pass as a freshman, Coupeville actually out-hit the Eagles most of the night.

Kiel, the eternally laid-back Hammer and Strasburg, who was so supercharged she was vibrating in place at times, laid down spine-cracking shots.

When they stayed in, the Wolves pushed Klahowya back on its heels.

Ultimately however, too many spikes sailed long in the first set, and a 9-8 deficit turned into a 23-15 hole in the blink of an eye.

Strasburg made one final bid to spark a rally, unleashing a wicked shot that exploded at the feet of an Eagle and skidded off, slammed into the back wall of the gym and shot back onto the court with almost as much force as when it left.

Maddie Big Time then punctuated the winner with a bellow that rivaled anything to ever exit Tarzan’s mouth.

Coupeville kept at it, with a chance to pull out a win in both of the next sets.

McKenzie Bailey joined in on the power display, freshman Lauren Rose ran into the second row of the seats in a bid to save a runaway ball and Valen Trujillo added floor burns #14,314-#14,401 while refusing to let any ball get past her without a diving effort.

The third set also saw the varsity debut of freshman Katrina McGranahan, who immediately teamed with Bailey to form a sometimes-potent duo at the net.

The match ended on a briefly sour note, as a 24-24 tie in the third set was broken when Coupeville was penalized for a rotation error.

On match point, three Wolves went to the floor in an effort to save the winning point, with Kiel whacking her face a bit.

To their credit, the Klahowya players applauded when the scrappy Wolf senior bounced up and was able to exit the floor under her own power.

And, unlike some other juggernauts in previous years (cough, ATM and King’s, cough) the Eagles were gracious winners .

Strasburg (seven kills, five digs), Kiel (five kills, 12 digs) and Hammer (four kills) paced the heavy hitters while Rose collected 18 assists. Trujillo had a team-high 16 digs and was credited with 11 perfect passes.

Barely a match: Despite facing a JV squad that managed to incorporate a big-time hitter who had already played two sets in the varsity match, the Wolves were rallying when time ran out on them. Literally.

Coupeville had cut an eight-point deficit back to four at 22-18 in the first set when the clock hit 7 PM and Klahowya had to hightail it to the ferry.

With the threat of a quick exit hanging over the event, a decision was made to bump up the varsity into the opening slot. After the three sets took up substantial time, the JV squads did a breakneck warmup and hurtled into action.

Other than a beautiful, slicing serve for a winner off the fingertips of Allison Wenzel, the early going was a bit rough for Coupeville.

Klahowya, taking advantage of a setter and a big hitter who were playing at a level beneath their talents, jumped out to to a quick 7-2 lead, then stretched it to 20-12.

The Wolves rallied, however, with McGranahan slamming a spike off the back line for a winner.

Sparked by her crowd-pleaser, CHS got big winners from Hope Lodell and Payton Aparicio.

Lodell cranked a shot from her back-court that sailed over multiple heads and dropped in, peeling the paint off the back line, while Aparicio went high to execute a gorgeous tip that plopped squarely between two Klahowya defenders who teamed up to whiff on the return.

Then the Eagles ran away with their “win.” Sorry, not buyin’ it.

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