Valen Trujillo, seen here last season, hasn’t changed her aggressive, electrifying style of play at all. (John Fisken photo)
If volleyball wins and losses were measured by who has the most floor burns, Coupeville would have been a straight-up winner Thursday night.
With Valen Trujillo and Kacie Kiel leading the charge — diving, sliding and skidding madly in pursuit of every loose ball — the Wolves refused to go down easily against visiting Friday Harbor. But, in the end, they did go down.
Despite fighting off eight match points, six in an epic third set in which it came back for the win, CHS eventually fell 25-10, 25-14, 31-33, 25-18.
The non-conference loss dropped the Wolves to 0-2 on the season.
They now have a full week off before their next match — a road trip to Orcas Island Sept. 18 — which should give the Wolf players time to heal bruised and bashed knees, thighs and elbows.
The biggest body blows came in the third set, when down two sets and trailing 8-3, Coupeville decided to get scrappy.
A picture-perfect tip for a winner from Kiel started the rally, and then big hustle plays from Sydney Autio and Trujillo, withering spikes from Hailey Hammer and precision serving from Miranda Engle started to pile up on one another in a most pleasing fashion.
The set became a battle royal, with 15 ties and stretched well beyond the usual race to 25 points.
Friday Harbor, after trailing 22-17, rallied to take its first match point at 24-23, but the Wolves refused to break. Over the next 10 minutes, they fought off match point six times, the last at 31-30.
Coupeville claimed the final three points, with Kiel serving out the set and punctuating things with a spike that exploded off the court and sent her dad, Steve, into a fit of glee.
His joyful screams of “that’s my baby girl!!” could be heard down around La Conner.
Still riding an emotional high off of the marathon third set, the Wolves jumped out to a 5-3 lead in the fourth, then unraveled a bit.
Unable to overcome a strong net game by a tall Friday Harbor squad, which frequently stuffed Coupeville’s best efforts at putaways, the Wolves let the momentary lead slip away.
But, even at the end, they didn’t go easy.
Junior McKenzie Bailey had three winners in a four-point stretch, elevating and dominating, as Coupeville fought off two more match points before finally running out of steam.
For the match, Hammer collected nine kills and four service aces, while Kiel had 13 digs, four kills and two blocks and Bailey had four kills and one block.
Trujillo had 13 digs, Autio nine assists and Engle two service aces.
Coupeville Sports 