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Posts Tagged ‘La Conner’

Wolves rumble with the big dogs

Posted in Volleyball, tagged , , , , on May 8, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Kylie Chernikoff was one of four Wolf senior spikers honored Friday night. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

No fear.

After the pandemic forced approximately 237 changes to Senior Night plans, the Coupeville High School varsity volleyball squad finally was able to give its four 12th graders their moment in the spotlight Friday night.

But, once the festivities were done, cold reality awaited, in the form of a third(!) meeting this season with two-time defending state champ La Conner.

The Braves are a smooth-running wrecking machine, here to ruin your evening with a series of nasty spikes and balls scraped off the floor at the last second, and they haven’t lost a league match in a decade-plus.

And yet, as fearsome as La Conner can be, and as transcendent as their star slugger, sophomore Ellie Marble, is when she’s delivering volcanic lasers from all angles, Coupeville didn’t blink.

The Wolves did eventually lose, falling 25-20, 25-13, 25-20, but they played the Braves as strongly as anyone has during a season in which La Conner has gone 9-0, winning all 27 sets played.

Coupeville is 5-0 against other teams, and has a chance to make it 6-0 when they face Orcas Island in Saturday’s season finale.

Led by seniors Kylie Chernikoff, Maddie Vondrak, Jaimee Masters, and Chelsea Prescott, the Wolves hit the floor Friday like a team ready to make some headlines.

CHS bolted out to a 4-1 lead, punctuated by Chernikoff stuffing a shot at the net, and there were seven ties in the opening set.

Vondrak, the mighty masher with the world’s most-pleasant disposition, had the play of the night, soaring high into the heavens, where she met Marble in solo combat.

Not only did David and Terri’s daughter hold her own against La Conner’s ultimate weapon, but Maddie soundly rejected the incoming spike, sending it right back in her foe’s face for an emphatic “No, ma’am, not now, not ever!”

Toss in a handful of sweet, slicing spikes from Prescott and a gorgeous running tip for a winner from sophomore sensation Jill Prince, and the Wolves were knocking on the door of ending La Conner’s flawless run.

It wasn’t to be, however, as CHS eventually fell, even while holding off two set points.

The middle set was a little more of a letdown, as La Conner jumped on the Wolves quickly and never wavered.

One play stands out, however.

The Braves made a sensational save on a ball seemingly headed for the stands, keeping a rally alive even as Wolf fans had already started to (prematurely) celebrate.

But then Prescott erupted into the air and hit the ball hard enough to cut it in half, spraying a winner right down the heart of the court with enough fury La Conner had no chance at spectacular save #2.

Cue the celebration again.

The night’s final set featured 10 ties, the latest coming at 18-18, though once again La Conner reached down late, found a slightly-different gear and did whatever was necessary to pull away.

Coupeville sophomores Maddie Georges, Lucy Tenore, and Alita Blouin, the latter playing through the pain of a back injury, showcased the grit of the next gen stars, while junior Abby Mulholland ripped a couple nice serves to keep the Braves on their heels.

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Fight to the final spike

Posted in Volleyball, tagged , , , , on May 7, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Gwen Gustafson is part of a talented group of Coupeville High School JV volleyball spikers. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

Quality, top to bottom.

La Conner High School is a titan in the world of 2B volleyball for a reason – longtime coach Suzanne Marble and her assistants have built a dynasty one step at a time.

The varsity program has won back-to-back state titles and hasn’t dropped a league match in a decade-plus.

But don’t sleep on the La Conner JV, because the young Braves are also undefeated this season, intent on impressing the coaches who can open the door to the next level.

Friday night, those spikers took another step to future success, holding off a Coupeville squad which has a fair amount of talent of its own.

Winning 25-19, 25-14, 25-20, the La Conner JV improves to 9-0 on the season, while dropping the Wolves to 5-3.

Coupeville, which wraps its season Saturday at home against Orcas Island, has essentially played two seasons in one.

The Wolves, under first-year coach Ashley Menges, are 0-3 against La Conner, and 5-0 against everyone else from the Northwest 2B/1B League.

Even in a loss, though, Coupeville pushed the Braves and made them fight for their points.

Case in point, the opening set, where the Wolves rallied from a 14-7 deficit to roar all the way back to an 18-18 tie.

The comeback began with a winner ripped down the left side of the floor by Maya Lucero, before a strong service run from Allison Nastali really fired things up.

Grey Peabody, Olivia Schaffeld, and Ryanne Knoblich all came up with big hustle plays, before Lucero unleashed her wicked power one more time, making the knees of even the hardiest of her foes tremble.

Unfortunately, once they were back even, the Wolves stumbled a bit, and La Conner seized control back, closing the set on a 7-1 tear.

Other than a nasty service ace from Allie Lucero and a winner off the fingertips of Issabel Johnson, much of the second set was pretty painful for Coupeville.

Issabel Johnson rains pain on her foes.

Down 17-3, the Wolves found a spark, however, as Knoblich elevated and terrorized, and things changed for the better.

Schaffeld, Peabody, and Gwen Gustafson — who reached over her head to uncork a winner, while falling backwards — started pounding the snot out of the ball, and CHS eventually held off six set points before succumbing.

While the win had been decided at that point, the third set, even with nothing but pride riding on it, was the most-competitive frame.

Both teams took turns going on runs, with the score fluctuating wildly.

A 4-1 Coupeville lead became a 12-6 deficit, then a 17-14 lead, before La Conner closed on an 11-3 run to claim the sweep.

Schaffeld put together a strong set, mixing big hits with nimble tips, while Skylar Parker and Jordyn Rogers used their time on the floor to showcase their heart and hustle.

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Cael Wilson gets historical

Posted in Boys Soccer, tagged , , , , , on May 5, 2021| 2 Comments »

Cael Wilson made history Wednesday, becoming the first 8th grader to score in a Coupeville High School boys soccer game. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

They ain’t seen nothing like this before.

Coupeville High School has been playing boys soccer continuously since 2004 — except for last spring, when Covid erased all prep sports.

So, now, during this oddest of seasons, a pandemic-shortened campaign in which traditional fall sports are being contested in the spring, it had to end this way — if it is ending.

Putting a cap on a season in which the soccer program was shut down due to insufficient numbers, then saved when tennis was cancelled, the Wolf booters fell 2-1 Wednesday at La Conner.

“They’re a good team,” said Coupeville coach Robert Wood. “They played well and really wanted the win.

“We played well but just gave away too many balls with players out of positions.”

But hold on just a doggone second, cause here’s where things go sideways in 27 different directions.

First, the game may (or may not) count as an official contest.

No refs showed for the pitch rumble, so Wood and his La Conner counterpart manned the whistles.

“We relived our golden days!,” the Wolf pitch guru said with a laugh.

The whole no refs thing may mean the loss won’t be official and drop the Wolves to 1-4 on the season. Instead, it may be classified as a “friendly.”

Soccer Nation waits anxiously for word from CHS Athletic Director Willie Smith, who, hopefully, is otherwise enjoying a quiet evening during a school year which would have driven a weaker man batty.

Second, it may not be the final game of the season.

It is the last one on the regular season schedule, yes.

But, Northwest 2B/1B League officials have been working on a “playoff” plan in which the top six schools from the seven-team league will face off in … MORTAL KOMBAT!!!!!

Or a bunch of soccer games.

Just sayin’ the first choice is the best choice.

Anyways, the games will feature the league’s #1 team versus its #2, #3 vs. #4, and #5 vs. 6.

Regardless of whether Wednesday’s game counts or not, Coupeville should be one of those latter two teams, as Grace Academy finished 0-5-1 and clinched dead-last after losing to league champ Orcas Island.

So, one more game Friday, maybe, possibly?

Want to know the opponent and whether it’s home or away? The nation turns its lonely eyes to Willie Smith one more time, and, hopefully, he turned his phone off for a few hours.

For our third unusual tangent, we return to Wednesday’s game, where those in La Conner witnessed something I don’t believe has ever happened in a Coupeville High School boys soccer game.

A middle school player scored for the Wolves.

Step up Cael Wilson, younger brother of team scoring leader Aidan, and claim your bit of history.

With CHS back in the 2B classification, and the soccer program in need of saving, the Wolves were able to add 8th graders to their roster, and Cael Wilson and Preston Epp answered the call.

Wednesday night, in the 17th season of Wolf boys soccer, the stars lined up just right.

Aidan Wilson, a sophomore, sent a cross which eluded two other Wolf players and two La Conner defenders, with the ball popping right out in front of his younger brother.

“Cael was hanging out in the Zen zone and just placed it right to the corner,” Wood said.

My soccer stat hunting has been an uphill battle, as some scoring records have vanished into the mists of time, and the local newspapers didn’t spend a lot of time documenting the early seasons of the program.

But, prior to Wednesday, I had tracked down 57 Wolf boys who found the back of the net in a CHS varsity game.

From Abraham Leyva, who sits atop the career scoring chart with 45 goals, to guys like Tanner Kircher, Laurence Boado, and Zeb Williams, who celebrated once, it’s a semi-complete record of pitch excellence.

None of those 57 soccer scorers was still in middle school when he punched home a goal however, as far as I know.

Which puts Cael Wilson in the company of a mere handful of Wolf athletes who have hit pay-dirt in a high school game before being an actual, you know, high schooler.

The gold standard is “Big” Mike Criscuola, CHS Class of 1960, a man among boys on the basketball court, even as an 8th grader towering over his older teammates.

Who knows where Cael Wilson’s sports career will go. He might be a legend or a footnote. Only time will tell.

But either way, he’ll always have that moment on the La Conner pitch on May 5, 2021, when he did something I’m 99.2% sure no Wolf booter before him has accomplished.

In a season of weirdness, one bright shining moment to treasure.

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Wolf booters howl in La Conner

Posted in Girls Soccer, tagged , , , , on May 4, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Genna Wright peppered the net Monday, leading Coupeville to a 6-0 win in La Conner. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

Sophie Martin was one of five Wolves to score in the victory.

In a world of extremes, the middle belongs to us.

There are only three Northwest 2B/1B League schools playing girls soccer in the Age of Coronavirus, and the disparity between those three is epic.

Mount Vernon Christian, which would be contending for a state title in a normal year, is 4-0 and has outscored its foes 38-0.

Meanwhile, La Conner, which is having a radically different kind of season, is 0-4 and has been outscored 33-0.

And then there’s Coupeville, boppin’ along at 2-2 after beating that winless La Conner squad 6-0 Monday night.

The Wolves, who close the pandemic-altered season when they host the red-hot Hurricanes Friday, have been outscored this year, but just 15-10.

While pulling off an upset of MVC on Senior Night will take considerable work, don’t count out the Wolves, who have been scrappy when facing the big dogs, and dominant when facing the cellar dwellers.

Monday Coupeville hit the road and let its legs do the talking, raining down goals from all angles.

Wolf senior Genna Wright bashed home two more scores, running her prep career total to 20, though she should have been credited with a full hat trick.

A third goal was waved off after the ref whistled her for being “offsides,” even though she started from her own half of the field — leaving CHS coach Kyle Nelson a bit bemused.

Also scoring for Coupeville were Sophie Martin, Eryn Wood, Ava Mitten, and Audrianna Shaw.

It was Martin’s first goal of the season and her fifth overall in a Wolf uniform, while Wood sits with two scores this season and three for her career.

Mitten and Shaw both found the back of the net for the first time in a CHS uniform.

“Good game all around,” Nelson said. “The defense held the clean sheet for (goalie) Mollie (Bailey), and the offense was opportunistic in their scoring.”

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Wolves tangle with state champs

Posted in Volleyball, tagged , , , , on April 30, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Maddie Vondrak tied for team honors Thursday, ripping off six kills against La Conner. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Not even a brush with Covid can slow down La Conner High School volleyball.

The two-time defending 2B state champs, back from a midseason 10-day shutdown of the program, haven’t missed a beat when they’re allowed to play.

Case in point, Thursday night, as the Braves swept varsity and JV matches from visiting Coupeville, while remaining the only Northwest 2B/1B League school to knock off the feisty Wolf spikers this season.

With the losses, both CHS squads drop to 4-2, with four matches left on their pandemic-shortened 10-match campaigns.

La Conner’s squads are each 6-0, with their varsity having won all 18 sets played. The Braves JV is an almost-perfect 17-1 in sets.

Coupeville gets right back at it Saturday, hosting Concrete on Senior Night, and the Wolves will get a third crack at the league’s premier program May 7.

With Darrington having shut down its program because of Covid concerns, the Wolves replaced their second match with the Loggers with a third tangle with the school which dominates NWL volleyball action.

It’s the old adage of “you have to beat the best to be the best,” so buckle up your chin strap (metaphorically, at least) and go in swinging from your toes.

How Thursday played out:

 

Varsity:

Coupeville made the powerhouse Braves work for points, but ultimately fell 25-12, 25-14, 25-15.

La Conner was led by Ellie Marble, who sprayed 20 kills to go with 11 digs and two service aces, and Emma Keller, who doled out 28 assists

The Wolves countered with six kills apiece from Maddie Vondrak, Jill Prince, and Chelsea Prescott, with the latter of that trio also going low for five digs.

Kylie Chernikoff came up big with five kills and six digs, while Maddie Georges (23 assists, four digs), Alita Blouin (10 digs), Jaimee Masters (five digs), Lucy Tenore (one kill, one dig), and Abby Mulholland (a dig) all chipped in to the team effort.

“We improved since our last outing against them,” said CHS coach Cory Whitmore. “We passed better, limiting reception errors and taking more swings at them.

“Our middle blockers had strong hitting percentages each – Maddie Vondrak hitting .417 and Jill Prince hitting .385.”

With four matches left to play, including a third rumble with La Conner, Whitmore continues to preach improvement and hard work.

“Attempting to slow their offense down will always be a tough task, but we have to come up with ways to counter with our own,” he said. “I thought the girls fought with a lot more heart this time.

“We are looking forward to finishing up our last week of the season strong.”

 

JV:

Coupeville was swept in three, but the young spikers came close to upending La Conner in the final set before being nipped 26-24.

That late surge was a definite positive for Wolf coach Ashley Menges.

“First two sets we were sitting and watching a lot. We just didn’t look ready for it,” she said.

“La Conner’s a good team, but I’ve seen the level we play at time and time again this season, we just didn’t play there when it counted.

“The girls had a much better third set, but we still have much to work on before we meet them again.”

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