Wolf sophomore Lucy Sandahl was on fire Saturday at the South Whidbey Invite. (John Fisken photos)
Mikayla Elfrank (5) showed off the benefits of off-season work with her play at the tourney.
Fab frosh (l to r) Maddie Vondrak, Chelsea Prescott and Savannah Smith. (Konni Smith photo)
One step at a time.
A deep, veteran Coupeville High School volleyball squad has lofty goals this season, but, to get there, the Wolves need to keep making progress each time they take the court.
Coach Cory Whitmore knows that, and he preaches it to his spikers, who are responding.
His varsity, and a sizable chunk of the JV squad, gave up half of their weekend, spending much of Saturday down at the southern end of Whidbey.
And it sounds as if it was worth it, as the Wolf varsity rolled undefeated through pool play, eventually finishing third at the 12-team South Whidbey Invite.
Coupeville’s JV, a last-minute addition to the tourney after another school finked out, held its own playing against mostly varsity competition, claiming 8th.
“I was happy with what we accomplished today, taking steps toward our long term goals, both at the varsity and JV level,” Whitmore said. “Great lessons learned going into practice this coming week and should help to serve as motivation for what needs to be done to reach our post-season goals.”
Varsity:
Coupeville rolled to straight-sets wins in all three of its pool clashes.
After knocking off the South Whidbey JV 25-22, 25-13, the Wolves thrashed varsity squads from Lopez Island (25-13, 25-9) and Friday Harbor (25-12, 25-18).
“Friday Harbor was our strongest performance during the day,” Whitmore said. “At any one point in the game, we had all six players staying disciplined and playing within themselves and the team concept from the start to the finish.
“Our focus and energy was at its strongest to finish pool play.”
Seniors Lauren Rose (back from a leg injury) and Mikayla Elfrank powered the Wolves against Friday Harbor.
Whitmore doled out particular praise to the big-hitting Elfrank, who is an electric player when everything is clicking.
“I’m proud of the work that Mikayla has put in in the off-season and regularly after practice,” he said. “She never settles with where she’s at and Lauren communicates well with her to put her hitter in a strong position to succeed.”
Coupeville was strong across the board, with Payton Aparicio and Ashley Menges on fire at the service line.
“Payton too has worked incredibly hard to improve her role, but as an outside, she has to serve, pass, block, dig and hit,” Whitmore said. “She shouldered the load really well and remained incredibly reliable in each set.”
Senior libero Hope Lodell, who has shifted positions this season to replace the graduated Valen Trujillo, was the glue for the Wolves.
“She anchored our serve receive and far back defense – I was happy with the progression she made as a defender and reading the hitters,” Whitmore said. “She looked very comfortable back there.
“Katrina McGranahan, Kyla Briscoe, Emma Smith, Scout Smith and Allison Wenzel filled their roles really well and had strong moments as well,” he added.
The Wolves stumbled a bit in the gold bracket finals against Nooksack Valley and South Whidbey’s varsity, but getting the kinks out in tourney play should help Coupeville as it sails back into regular season play.
“We got fairly tentative from both the service line and very reactive to our opponents’ serves and attacks,” Whitmore said. “Against tough teams, such as we faced in the top bracket, we needed to take more risks and work to control the tempo.”
JV:
Coupeville rolled out five sophomores — Raven Vick, Maya Toomey-Stout, Emma Mathusek, Zoe Trujillo and Willow Vick — and freshmen Chelsea Prescott, Savannah Smith and Maddie Vondrak.
“I’m also very happy with what I saw from our JV group playing against mostly varsity teams,” Whitmore said. “I was happy to see our sophomore group play together, with a lot of ball control and composure, and then our freshman middles learn at a rapid pace, holding their own just fine.”
Sandahl was in the thick of things, guiding her squad like a wizard.
“Lucy did a great job working as the setter the entire day,” Whitmore said. “She worked incredibly hard for her teammates and did a nice job of managing the passes given to her, setting up her hitters for success.”
New Wolf JV coach Chris Smith came away from his first tourney pleased with both results and effort.
The young guns took four sets off of varsity teams, winning two against Lopez and one apiece against Port Angeles and Orcas.
“This was an awesome opportunity and challenge for our talented and tenacious sophomore squad that plays with a lot of energy and resolve,” Smith said. “Although this group is relatively small in stature they came up with a lot of big plays.”
Coupeville’s freshmen trio also stood tall.
“I was very happy with the help we got from Maddie, Chelsea and Savannah,” Smith said. “These three freshmen added a lot of height to our team and created a solid presence in the middle.
“I was very happy with the comments I received throughout the day from opposing coaches and players about how scrappy we were on defense.”
Coupeville Sports 