Mackenzi Valko (right) and Katrina McGranahan celebrate a successful point. (John Fisken photos)
Jae LeVine (in red) gets a hug from Lauren Grove. Looking on are Payton Aparicio (far left), Hope Lodell (8), McGranahan and Valko.
For the first time this season, my schedule at my “real” job prevented me from attending a home Coupeville High School volleyball match.
I will never hear the end of it.
“Well, you chose the wrong night to work because even though we didn’t win the match, there was a lot of exciting volleyball going on,” said Wolf JV coach Amy King.
She then went on to point out I also missed the loud ‘n proud return of the CHS student section in full costumes for the first time since the midpoint of last year.
“The boys were back louder than ever for the varsity games,” King said. “It was great!”
And I had fun washing dishes…
Anyway, facing off with a hard-hitting Darrington squad, the Wolf JV squad pushed the Loggers to the limit before falling 25-20, 19-25, 25-19 in a magnificent rumble.
The loss dropped Coupeville to 2-4 on the season. With Chimacum in town tonight (and me back in the bleachers), the JV will have the night off, as the Cowboys have a thin roster.
Facing off with Darrington, the Wolves got off to a cold start (Perhaps eying the exit hoping the press would still show up? Yes? No … OK), falling behind 20-10.
Then, sparked by the pinpoint serving of Payton Aparicio, Coupeville staged a rally and almost made it all the way back before running out of points to play with.
Aparicio, who tossed in a couple of aces to keep the Loggers jumping, was supported during the rally by stellar play from the quartet of Katrina McGranahan, Hope Lodell, Kameryn St Onge and Lauren Grove.
All four flew around the court, providing a dazzling blend of tips, hits and kills, with McGranahan and Lodell also being lights-out at the service stripe.
The second set was a “constant battle at the net, just good defense and offense all around.”
Trailing by seven, the Wolves unleashed their version of the Kraken, the laser-blasting McGranahan.
The freshman phenom went wild on her serve, while Sofia Hassapis had a sparkling tip and Mackenzi Valko “placed a kill just on the inside corner of the opposite side of the net.”
“Katrina just hit and hit, Kameryn threw in some tips and with every ball over the net the girls just got more intense and refused to let the game slide,” King said. “This one ended with a nice set from Lauren to Hope, who put the ball away from the back-row.
“Yes, the gym erupted.”
So that’s what I heard way down the street at Christopher’s on Whidbey.
With the varsity squads getting restless as the start of their match approached, the two JV teams continued to wage war in an ultra-tight third set, with the Loggers holding on for the narrow victory.
“Everyone played their hearts out but we just couldn’t hold on, despite Katrina’s kills,” King said.
McGranahan (18 successful serves including seven aces, three kills, two tips, six hits and one save) filled up most of the stat sheet by herself, while Aparicio (13 successful serves, three aces) and Lodell (8 serves, one ace, one hit, one kill and one save) provided invaluable backup.
Grove added five kills and two saves, Maggie Crimmins knocked in five successful serves (with one ace) and St Onge had two tips, two kills and a crowd-pleasing block.
Top to bottom the Wolves came out swinging, with everyone chipping in.
Valko had a pair of kills, Kayla Rose hit on four serves at a crucial part of the match, Allison Wenzel “played a very well-rounded game” and Jae LeVine “covered well behind our blockers, getting a lot of great passes to our setters.”
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