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Posts Tagged ‘Mount Vernon Christian’

With great power comes great wins

Posted in Volleyball, tagged , , , , , on September 19, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Wolf seniors (l to r) Lyla Stuurmans, Jada Heaton, and Taylor Brotemarkle are off to a great start. (Jennifer Heaton photo)

The gym was different, the result the same.

Playing at home for the first time this season Thursday, the Coupeville High School varsity volleyball squad kept its perfect streak going.

Sweeping visiting Mount Vernon Christian 25-17, 25-15, 25-7 on Madison McMillan’s cake day, the Wolves get to 2-0 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 3-0 overall.

They haven’t dropped a set in regular season play, and certainly weren’t about to start against the Hurricanes.

Other than brief burps at the start of the first two sets, CHS led start to finish, with spry setter Katie Marti flying around, feeding a variety of big hitters who hammered winners upon winners.

MVC did lead 3-2 in the opening set, but then the Wolves promptly roared to life.

Bounding all around the court, Lyla Stuurmans and Teagan Calkins took turns delivering crisp winners which sliced off kneecaps and left the Hurricanes to wonder if their life insurance policies were paid up.

When the duo wasn’t banging away, they also delivered savage barbs with a poke here, a tip there, always keeping the ball just out of range of their rival hitters.

Add in some titanic mashes exploding off of the deadly fingers of Mia Farris as she swooped in from the side, and Jada Heaton up on her toes, ready to dominate at the net, and Coupeville was in full-on kill mode.

The ever-calm (even on her birthday) McMillan and the indispensable Taylor Brotemarkle dug deep to pull balls off the floor, with Marti cavorting from side to side, taking their setups and lofting the ball to her snipers.

Birthday girl Madison McMillan contemplates how hard she would have to hit the volleyball to make it explode. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Flush from the success of the first set, the second frame went down much the same.

Coupeville dominated, the Hurricanes fought back with a never-say-die spirit, and then the Wolves beat the air right out of the ball.

Farris, in full-on Mia the Magnificent mode, lashed a huge spike that tore off a chunk of the floor.

To which Stuurmans responded, “I can do that too,” as she bounded skyward and sent a missile screaming past a Hurricane defender who wisely decided that no, she didn’t really want to try and return that one.

Enter “The Red Dragon,” AKA Teagan Calkins, who, perhaps channeling Austin Powers, stated that she too liked to live dangerously.

And by live dangerously, she meant “hit the volleyball so hard it goes blind.”

Teagan Calkins drops a winner. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

If MVC thought the explosion at the power factory was done after the second set, it was sadly mistaken, since set three was nothing but non-stop bicep-poppin’, big-hittin’ fun for the Wolves.

McMillan punctuated her day of birth by firing a bullet which caught the corner of the court for a point, and a look at this reporter’s notebook reveals the following from set #3:

“Lyla bomb.”

“Mia laser.”

“Lyla mash.”

“Mia freakin’ massacred the ball.”

At the end of the fireworks show, the night’s final point was maybe the most impressive, while featuring artistry over pure firepower.

Scrambling madly towards the CHS bench (with a 24-7 lead), Marti stretched out to her full length and caught an out-of-control ball before it could get away.

Spinning it back over her head, she (somehow) sent it on a dime to Stuurmans, who sliced the ball across the top of the net.

Startled that the ball was coming back in her direction after the play seemed all but dead, a Hurricane hitter punched at the ball and sent it sailing far away into the night, ending things and sending the Wolves into a celebration.

In a match in which 10 girls hit the floor — Tenley Stuurmans, Aby Wood, and Dakota Strong also got floor time late — Coupeville got the nod of approval from coach Cory Whitmore.

“It was good to work through a couple of things,” he said. “We looked pretty sharp and controlled the first ball pretty well.

“What’s exciting about this group is they find the hitter with the hot hand, even if that changes from set to set and night to night.”

 

Milestone moments:

Both Calkins and Marti hit round numbers recently, Whitmore said.

Marti, a senior, nailed her 100th career ace at the service stripe during last weekend’s SunDome Volleyball Festival, and sits at 105 and counting.

Meanwhile, Calkins, a junior, reached 100 career kills during the last regular season match against Friday Harbor. With six more Thursday against MVC, she’s up to 112 for her prep career.

 

Thursday stats:

Taylor Brotemarkle — 6 digs
Teagan Calkins — 6 kills, 4 digs, 3 aces
Mia Farris — 4 kills, 9 digs, 2 aces
Jada Heaton— 1 kill, 1 dig
Katie Marti — 2 kills, 8 digs, 19 assists, 1 block assist, 2 aces
Madison McMillan — 4 kills, 12 digs, 2 aces
Lyla Stuurmans — 10 kills, 7 digs, 1 solo block, 1 block assist, 1 ace
Tenley Stuurmans — 1 ace

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Hurricanes nip Wolf JV spikers

Posted in Volleyball, tagged , , , , on September 19, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Haylee Armstrong (left) and Ari Cunningham discuss strategy. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

They won the battle and lost the war.

Playing from behind in every set Thursday, the Coupeville High School JV volleyball squad held off four match points and actually won one more point than visiting Mount Vernon Christian.

But the game of spikes and digs is decided by capturing sets, and not total points, so a 62-61 advantage couldn’t net the Wolves a win, as they fell 20-25, 26-24, 15-13.

The loss, coming in Coupeville’s home opener, drops the JV spikers to 1-1 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 2-1 overall.

The young Wolves proved to be a scrappy bunch but did most of their best work Thursday after digging a big hole for themselves.

CHS trailed 12-4 in the opening set, before sophomore Dakota Strong lashed a winner at the net to key the turnaround.

Bit by bit the Wolves got back into the match, picking up points on serves from Tenley Stuurmans, Ari Cunningham, and Haylee Armstrong, but were still down 18-14 when Capri Anter stepped to the line.

Dropping bombs on the Hurricanes, and getting some help from Stuurmans, who netted a sweet runner that dropped over the heads of a pack of defenders, Anter shoved Coupeville back into the lead.

Six straight points on serve gave the Wolves a lead they wouldn’t relinquish, with Cunningham and Stuurmans coming up big at crunch time.

The set-winning point was a note-perfect shot from fab frosh Stuurmans, who drew the defense in, flicked a winner between Hurricane players, then calmly strolled away, small smile on her face.

Tenley Stuurmans is here to deliver winners.

Unfortunately for Coupeville, as soon as it had the advantage, it gave it right back to MVC.

A couple of slow stretches offensively left the Wolves in another hole, this time at 13-7, before the hometown hitters once again rallied.

Adeline Maynes cranked back-to-back aces, coming right after Lexis Drake stuffed the visitors on a play set up by a great dive from Cunningham to keep the action alive.

Coupeville finally reclaimed the lead at 23-22, courtesy a strong run at the service stripe from Armstrong, only for MVC to escape and knot things up at a set apiece.

There were two ties in the final set, at 1-1 and 4-4, before the ‘Canes pulled away seemingly for good.

With things going to 15, and not 25, Mount Vernon staked itself to a 14-9 lead, only to see the Wolves mount a comeback that almost made it all the way.

With Anter peppering the visitors from the line, Coupeville held off four match points and had a chance to force a tie at 14-14, only to be denied by a ball which missed the endline by a whisker.

While the loss stings, the Wolf JV spikers, who celebrated Isa Mc Fetridge’s birthday Thursday, will get back at it.

Next up is a road trip to La Conner Tuesday, Sept. 24, then a home tilt with Darrington two days later.

 

Thursday stats:

Capri Anter — 4 kills, 8 digs, 5 aces
Haylee Armstrong — 8 digs, 1 ace
Ari Cunningham — 3 kills, 1 dig, 1 ace
Lexis Drake — 1 solo block, 2 aces
Adeline Maynes — 5 digs, 4 assists, 3 aces
Dakota Strong — 2 kills
Tenley Stuurmans — 6 kills, 1 dig, 5 assists, 2 aces

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Former Wolf rival signs with Gonzaga

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged , , , , on July 5, 2024| Leave a Comment »

The guy on the right, Davis Fogle, a skinny 8th grader in 2021, is now a 6-7 powerhouse who just committed to Gonzaga. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Gonzaga’s next big basketball star once went toe-to-toe with Coupeville.

Davis Fogle, who announced his commitment to the Zags Thursday, is now a rising senior at Arizona Compass Prep — one who happens to be six-foot-seven and capable of throwing down dunks from multiple angles while elevating over opponents.

In his final high school test in Washington state, he torched the nets for a game-high 39 points in March while playing in the Futures Game at the All-State weekend.

Before the recent move to Arizona, Fogle played his sophomore and junior seasons at Anacortes High School.

But during the pandemic days, the future star got his prep hoops start at Mount Vernon Christian.

As a much-skinnier 8th grader, he was a key part of one of the best games to go down in the CHS gym’s history.

Played in June — because of the pandemic throwing everything off — the game featured Fogle scoring 21 points and coming within an inch of throwing in a game-winning bucket at the buzzer.

To the delight of Wolf fans, however, the ball refused to drop, and Coupeville held on for a wild 66-65 victory and a season sweep of the Hurricanes.

CHS rallied from six points down in the final seconds, with sophomore Alex Murdy draining the tying and eventual winning free throws with just 11 ticks to play.

Fogle was injured for much of his freshman campaign, preventing a rematch with the Wolves, then departed for Anacortes.

As he has grown in height and lit up the select basketball circuit in addition to his play for the Seahawks, he’s risen up the ranking charts.

Jumping nearly 40 slots in a short period of time, Fogle is ranked as the #38 player nationally in the Class of 2025. In Washington state, he was at #1 on most charts.

After cutting his list to national powers Gonzaga, Creighton, and Kansas, his decision to sign with Mark Few’s program breaks a recent trend for the Bulldogs.

Gonzaga, which has advanced to the Sweet 16 nine consecutive years, added four transfers and Senegal native Ismaila Diagne in its 2024 class, not signing any high school players.

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Road warriors rally, win key game

Posted in Baseball, tagged , , , , on April 19, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Jack Farrell comes up firing on defense. (Jackie Saia photo)

Don’t look now, but Coupeville is making its patented second-half move.

Upholding a longstanding tradition, the 2024 edition of Wolf baseball stormed from behind to topple host Mount Vernon Christian 10-5 Friday.

That pushes Coupeville’s win streak in Northwest 2B/1B League games to four-straight, gets them to 5-2 in conference action, and lets them hurdle the Hurricanes to move into sole possession of second place.

The Wolves, who are 6-8 overall, are a game-and-a-half back of frontrunner Orcas Island (7-1), with MVC (5-3), Friday Harbor (4-4), La Conner (2-4), Concrete (1-5), and Darrington (1-6) rounding out the combatants.

CHS has five conference clashes left on the schedule, with three of those, including a second meeting with Orcas, slated to go down in Cow Town.

No baseball escapes Aiden O’Neill’s glove. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Friday, playing on the mainland, the Wolves came out strongly, slipped up for a bit, then reclaimed the lead and never let it go.

Coupeville took advantage of Hurricane errors all day, beginning in the second inning, when it used a wild pitch, a passed ball, and two bobbled balls to push three runs across the plate.

Wolf hurler Seth Woollet kept MVC largely at bay, getting some slick defensive play from 8th grader Carson Grove at second base, though eventually the hosts regained the lead for a hot second.

With CHS unable to score across the third, fourth, and fifth innings, the lead slipped to 3-1, then went to a 3-3 stalemate, before the Wolves fell behind at 4-3.

Never fear.

The final two frames thoroughly belonged to Coupeville, as the road warriors surged for seven runs to claim the win.

Three more ‘Cane errors in the top of the sixth helped a lot, then Steven Gonzalez tore the hide off the ball, lacing a two-run single to left field to push CHS ahead 7-4.

Landon Roberts prepares to inflict great harm on the baseball. Nothing personal, just business. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

MVC got one run back in the bottom half of the inning, but the Wolves iced things in the seventh as Coop Cooper walked, before Landon Roberts and Johnny Porter laced back-to-back base knocks.

The final blow came off the bat of Peyton Caveness, with Mount Vernon committing its sixth, and final error, on the play to compound matters.

Up 10-5, Woollet handed the ball off to Roberts, and the lanky lefty struck out the side in the seventh to close things down.

 

Friday stats:

Chase Anderson — Two singles, one walk
Coop Cooper — Two walks
Steven Gonzalez — One single
Carson Grove — One walk
Jack Porter — One walk
Johnny Porter — One single
Landon Roberts — One single
Cole White — One single, one walk
Seth Woollet — Two singles

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Enter Sandman, exit Hurricanes

Posted in Baseball, tagged , , , , , on March 22, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Yohannon Sandles was raking Friday, in more ways than one. (Sherry Bonacci photo)

“BE BIG!!”

Wish granted.

Rallying from four runs down late Friday, the Coupeville High School varsity baseball squad survived nail-shredding tension and pulled out a stunning come-from-behind win in extra innings, sending its fans home happy, one step ahead of the encroaching darkness.

To get there, shanking visiting Mount Vernon Christian 5-4 in nine gut-wrenching frames, the Wolves dodged disaster, found a new groove, and listened to their fans constant plea to seize the moment.

And thanks to career-defining performances from players as diverse as Yohannon Sandles and Camden Glover, CHS evens its Northwest 2B/1B League record at 1-1, moves to 2-3 overall, and, hopefully, turns a corner while the season is still young.

A game after being no-hit in a loss to Friday Harbor, the Wolves came up with clutch base-knocks against MVC, while shutting down the Hurricane hitters when it mattered most.

Camden Glover, seen in sunnier times, was lights out Friday, a day before he turns 16. (Photo courtesy Stevie Glover)

Trailing 4-0 heading into the bottom of the sixth, Coupeville was hanging tough thanks to a huge pitching performance from Glover.

Coming on in relief of Peyton Caveness — who was fairly sharp himself but had been dinged by a play here, a play there — Glover was lights out.

The burly sophomore, who celebrates his 16th birthday Saturday, went 5.2 innings, striking out 10 while not giving up a single hit.

But with just six outs left to play with, the Wolves needed something to start clicking offensively.

They found their mojo thanks to some pain, some hustle, and some precision hitting.

Aiden O’Neill led off the bottom of the sixth by wearing a pitch, the ball whacking off his body with a dull thud.

Not one to grimace or show any discomfort, the speedy sophomore instead bounded down to first, then promptly shot down to second on a steal.

He came around to score Coupeville’s first run on a hard-hit grounder off the bat of Sandles, and CHS seemed to be in business.

Until the Wolves briefly stalled out, stranding runners at second and third to end the inning.

Not a problem, however, as Glover mowed down the side in the seventh, and then his teammates rose to the moment in their “final” at-bats.

Pinch hitter Aidyn McDermott led off with a single that chewed up the glove of the MVC third baseman, before Caveness thumped an RBI double.

The Hurricanes looked like they were going to escape, however, striking out the next batter and putting themselves an out away from scampering back to the vans, a visit to McDonalds possibly in their early evening plans.

To which the Wolves said, stow those burgers and fries, buccos, with Cole White and Sandles knocking in runs with back-to-back perfectly placed blasts.

Sandles gets dynamic. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Suddenly it was 4-4, we were headed to extra innings, and the overflow crowd of MVC fans were beginning to kvetch.

Just the way Cow Town likes it.

Glover survived a tense moment in the top of the eighth, plunking two batters before getting a ‘Cane slugger to weakly launch a foul ball right to first baseman Caveness with the bags juiced.

Coupeville put two runners aboard in the bottom half of the frame thanks to MVC errors, and the visitors reloaded the bases in the top of the ninth thanks to walks, but neither team could break through.

With already black skies getting darker and the game pushing three hours, that set up a fab finale in the bottom of the ninth.

White rapped a one-out single, then moved his lanky body down the line at a rapid rate on a steal, before Sandles wrote the final best-selling chapter.

Hitting cleanup, the Wolf junior, famous for his crowd-pleasing photos on the Coupeville Barstool Instagram account, capped his best day as a CHS diamond dynamo.

With his fan club hootin’ and hollerin’ on every pitch, Sandles dug his cleats into the prairie dirt, swung from his heels, and launched a gorgeous laser into faraway left field.

Ball hit grass, White’s toes tapped home plate, and the rush was on, as the Wolves poured out of the dugout to envelop their stellar second baseman.

Peyton Caveness and Co. swung big in key moments. (Morgan White photo)

Sandles finished with three hits (according to the official book), though some might argue he actually had four depending on how you viewed one base knock which was recorded as an error.

Joining him in the hit parade were White, who rapped two, Caveness — who whacked a two-bagger — Landon Roberts, and McDermott as CHS outhit MVC 8-2.

O’Neill, Caveness, Glover, and Jack Porter walked to round out the offense.

With the wild win in hand, the Wolves prep for a super-busy week, if weather permits.

Coupeville is slated to travel to Orcas Island next Tuesday, host Sequim Wednesday, trek to Concrete Friday, and host South Whidbey Saturday.

Oh, and the Wolf JV will play in Oak Harbor Monday, leaving very few open dates on the schedule.

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