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Posts Tagged ‘Scout Smith’

Emma

   Emma Mathusek reeled off seven straight points on her serve Tuesday night, part of a team-wide run of strong serving. (John Fisken photo)

The young guns have a strong service game as well.

Emulating their varsity counterparts, the Coupeville High School JV spikers have been deadly at the line this season, and nothing changed Tuesday night.

Making it all but impossible for visiting Chimacum to get the ball back in play, the razor-sharp Wolves rolled to a 25-11, 25-8, 16-14 victory.

The win lifts the JV squad to 2-0 overall, 1-0 in league play.

Freshman phenom Scout Smith was her team’s deadliest weapon once again, ripping off 14 points on serve in the first set alone, but she wasn’t the only Wolf to have a hot hand.

Raven Vick, Emma Mathusek, Willow Vick and Maddy Hilkey all put together nice runs at the stripe, with Mathusek going on a scoring tear at one point where Chimacum only got a hand on two of seven serves.

Coupeville built leads of 6-0, 8-0 and 3-0 in the three sets, trailing only briefly near the end of the third set, when they were lulled into a brief stupor.

Even then, the Wolves never trailed by more than a single point, putting the match on ice, appropriately, with a Cowboy error (a shot off a ceiling speaker) followed by one last impossible-to-return scorcher from Smith’s serving arm.

While very few balls were in play for more than a hit or two, Coupeville had a couple of nice put-aways.

One came on a sweet tip into open space by Zoe Trujillo, another on a scrambling save by a quick-thinking Maya Toomey-Stout and two others on booming spikes off the fingertips of Hannah Davidson.

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Coupeville High School spikers and coaches head off for a day of volleyball. (Cory Whitmore photo)

   Coupeville High School spikers and coaches head off for a day of volleyball. (Cory Whitmore photo)

“We got better today – simple as that.”

Coming off of an opening night win, the Coupeville High School volleyball squad got valuable floor time Saturday where they could focus more on development than wins and losses.

Competing in the six-team South Whidbey Invite, the Wolves still did pretty darn well record-wise, winning four of six matches in pool play.

But for Wolf coach Cory Whitmore, development, especially for his younger players, trumped all on this day.

“We faced and overcame some challenges that will translate to valuable experience for league and playoff matches,” he said.

With key varsity players Ashley Menges and Ally Roberts absent (they’re competing in horse events at the state fair), freshman Scout Smith got the call-up to the big leagues.

And Scoutosaurus Rex responded in appropriate fashion.

“I’m excited that we got Scout A LOT of varsity playing time as the other setter,” Whitmore said. “She took half of the sets today and really stepped up and rose to the speed and physicality that varsity requires.

“I was impressed with her serving (again) but more so with the ease in which she took to running the offense with older teammates,” he added. “She looked comfortable out there and that’s not to be taken lightly.”

The Wolves (1-0) return to regular match play with back-to-back home bouts this coming week.

Chimacum is up first, coming to Whidbey Tuesday (5:00 JV/6:15 varsity) for the 1A Olympic League opener, followed by 2A Sequim Wednesday (4:15/5:30) for a non-conference match.

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Scout Smith (John Fisken photo)

Scout Smith, destroyer of worlds. (John Fisken photo)

Scout Smith is the T-Rex. Everyone else is just the meal.

Making an especially strong high school debut, the Coupeville freshman punctuated her first day of school Tuesday by unleashing a seriously nasty serve that left Mount Vernon Christian players madly looking for someplace, any place, to hide.

Spoiler alert: they weren’t safe, even back on the bus.

At one point Smith reeled off 18 consecutive points on her serve, including the final 13 points of the second set, sparking the Wolf JV to a 25-20, 25-11, 25-15 romp over the visiting Hurricanes.

And yet, as on-target as Hunter and CJ’s lil’ sis was, she was far from the only Coupeville player to sparkle in the season-opener.

The Wolves, utilizing a young and talented roster, ran a constant stream of players onto the floor, and every one of them seemed to have the magic touch.

Things kicked off in high style as freshman Hannah Davidson rose up and pounded home a winner about three seconds into the match, claiming the season’s first point before most of the fans had settled into their seats.

After that, it was like a collection of SportsCenter highlights from the stars of tomorrow.

Raven Vick lashed a gorgeous spike that caught the back-line, Lucy Sandahl poked a winner into the smallest of gaps between two rivals and the Wolf service game was en fuego.

Zoe Trujillo, Maddy Hilkey, Vick, Sandahl and Smith (who was just warming up) all delivered crisp serves in the opening set, before Smith went nuclear in set #2.

With the Wolves up a set and clinging to a 12-11 lead, they handed the ball to Smith and (metaphorically at least) turned out the lights on the Hurricanes.

Smith opened by cracking a zinger that sliced several toes off of the MVC returner, then mixed up screaming serves with devious ones which dipped and dropped at the last second.

As super fan/team mom Amy Briscoe went berserk — “I LIKE THAT GIRL!!!!!!” — Smith, Coupeville’s most placid ace, kept the family tradition alive by maintaining a perfect poker face throughout most of her run.

Having swept the first two sets, CHS had the match in hand (JV teams play best two of three) but the two teams had extra time on the clock and decided to continue play.

Which was basically an excuse for the Wolves to open a further can of whup-ass, with Maya Toomey-Stout, Willow Vick, Melia Welling and others coming up with big plays.

Welling’s was especially sweet, as the frosh threw down a hook shot that skimmed over the heads of several Hurricanes and dropped in for a winner that seemed to catch a lot of people by surprise, most especially the beaming player who had just pulled off the surprise shot.

With the end of the match in sight, and the battered and bruised Hurricanes ankling for the door, Smith returned to put a final exclamation point on things.

On what would turn out to be her next-to-last serve, and the 27th point she won at the stripe on the night, she launched a wicked slice that caught a Mount Vernon player square in the arm, before ricocheting across the gym.

As the Hurricane gingerly rubbed her elbow, Smith let a small smile slip around the corner of her mouth.

It was the grin of a stone-cold killer.

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Scout Smith: Rampaging force of nature. (John Fisken and Charlotte Young photos)

   Scout Smith: a rampaging force of nature. (John Fisken and Charlotte Young photos)

Scout Smith is the real deal.

As a new pack of Wolves get ready to enter the hallways of Coupeville High School, she is at the forefront of the coming athletic revolution.

A three-sport star (volleyball, basketball, softball), who also played soccer and cheered in her younger days, Smith can do it all, and she can do it all extremely well.

As she celebrates her 14th birthday today, Scout is following in the (very successful) footsteps of older brothers CJ and Hunter, and, frankly, I wouldn’t be surprised if she outdoes them.

She’s got the same quiet confidence mixed with raw talent that they possess, and gravitates towards being a team leader.

Not afraid to get down and dirty on the field, Smith is that rarity, an athlete who wants the ball at crunch time and never shies away from the heat of the spotlight.

So, exactly like her brothers.

Whether staring daggers at hitters while pacing in the pitcher’s circle, or draining three-balls over outstretched arms, Scout is a killer.

Who also happens to be an extraordinarily nice person away from the arena, a vital part of a close-knit group of young women who excelled in middle school and little league sports by supporting each other and always focusing on team above all else.

You can go down a checklist with Scout, a very similar one to CJ and Hunter:

Smart, well-spoken, high character, mentally tough, hard workers who reflect extremely well on parents Chris and Charlotte, both as athletes and people.

When the Smith family moved to Whidbey during the 2013-2014 basketball season, Coupeville pulled off a major coup and the benefits to our sports teams and our community grow each day.

So, as she prepares to lay waste to high school competition, we just want to take a moment on her cake day to stop and wish the youngest family member all the best, on and off the field.

You’re a hard-court killer and a diamond thriller, Scout, and a whole lot more. Happy birthday, superstar!

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Scout Smith (John Fisken photo)

   Scout Smith, seen here in an earlier game, had it all going Tuesday — pitching, hitting and defense. (John Fisken photos)

Mollie Bailey

Mollie Bailey can get that helmet off in 0.2 seconds when necessary.

The beat-downs continue.

Pounding away at the plate Tuesday, while still finding time to throw down some dazzling glove work in the field, the Central Whidbey Little League Juniors softball squad rolled to another victory.

Thrashing host North Whidbey 14-3, the Venom improved to a tidy 7-3 on the season.

Breaking the ten-run barrier for the eighth time in 10 games, Central Whidbey has now outscored its foes 152-70.

The entire lineup picked apart North Whidbey, with Cynthia Rachal racking up three hits and Mollie Bailey getting plunked three times by wild pitchers.

Scout Smith, Chelsea Prescott and Hannah Davidson all thumped doubles, with Prescott also garnering “an excellent slap hit.”

When she wasn’t getting peppered, Bailey backed up her pitcher (Smith) quite ably, throwing off her helmet to chase down a foul ball behind her.

“The ump even asked her how she got her helmet off so quick,” said Venom coach Charlotte Young.

Bailey’s quick thinking wasn’t the only stellar defensive play, as Smith also teamed up with second baseman Maya Toomey-Stout to pick off a runner.

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