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Posts Tagged ‘South Whidbey’

Goliath falls!!

Posted in Girls Tennis, tagged , , , , , on April 16, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Sage Renninger (john Fisken photos)

   After Coupeville shocked South Whidbey, Sage Renninger and her teammates know what it feels like to knock off the biggest baddie on the block. (John Fisken photos)

Jacki Ginnings

   Jacki Ginnings won a two-hour-plus contest at #1 singles to earn Player of the Match honors.

This one was as big as it gets.

South Whidbey is not only the gold standard for high school tennis on Whidbey Island, but the Falcons are perennially among the best in the state.

They are champions, as a team and as individuals. Year in and year out.

And Wednesday? The Falcons fell and they fell hard.

As the Coupeville bus headed back towards Cow Town, the noise could be heard from miles away, as the Wolves celebrated one of the biggest team wins in the ten-year run of CHS coach Ken Stange.

With both of his singles players coming up huge and an epic win at #3 doubles from a duo who don’t normally play together, Coupeville stung South Whidbey 3-2 to set off the celebration.

Once the Wolves reached the open road, that is.

“I won’t soon forget today’s match,” Stange said. “The girls have played hard all season long. Today seemed different, though.

“Each and every one of those young ladies brought fire and intensity to the court!,” he added. “From top to bottom, we represented our school with great effort and pride.

“Me, as the bus rolled to the end of the SW parking lot: Hang on. We need to respect them until we’re off their campus. Me, at the top of my lungs, once we were on the road: WE BEAT THE FALCONS!”

The non-conference victory, which avenged a 5-2 loss earlier this season, improved Coupeville to 2-3 on the season.

The Wolves take their flawless 1-0 Olympic League mark into competition Friday, when they host Chimacum.

Then, after a weekend tournament, Coupeville will host four matches next week, including a conference tilt against Klahowya.

Complete Wednesday results:

Varsity:

1st Singles — Jacki Ginnings beat Kendra Warwick 6-4, 7-5

A match-up between select soccer teammates (both play for the GU19 Whidbey Islanders), it went two-hours-plus and Ginnings netted Player of the Match honors for her win.

“Jacki was composed, and she balanced aggressive play with just the right amount of touch. Today, she used the tried and true tactic of drawing her opponent into the net before lobbing over her opponent’s head. It was brilliant!

“Sometimes a person just has to want something enough. Jacki had enough desire to power our entire team.”

2nd Singles — Valen Trujillo beat Macy Bishop 6-1, 6-1

“As the score suggests, Valen took control early and didn’t look back. Valen was en fuego!”

1st Doubles — Payton Aparicio/Sage Renninger lost to Isla Dubendorf/Bayley Gochanour 6-2, 6-2

“While the score suggests a blowout, Sage and Payton played quite well, jumping out to early leads in each set. The SW duo are a fairly seasoned pair, and our (freshman) girls will be on the winning end of these types of matches as time progresses.”

2nd Doubles: Sydney Autio/Micky LeVine lost to Iona Rohan/Jenn Leroy 6-3, 3-6, 6-2

“This match was a bit of a shootout. Sydney provided power and Micky provided consistency.”

3rd Doubles — McKenzie Bailey/Jazmine Franklin beat Carmen Warwick/Taylor Hamilton 6-2, 6-4

With Bailey’s normal partner (Wynter Thorne) out for the day, Franklin moved up and didn’t disappoint.

“This was one of the matches I knew we had to win, if we were to have a chance to pick up the team victory. We formed this doubles team on the bus as we were preparing to leave the school.

“Jazmine was consistent and is gaining power, and she made sure there was no weak link on her side of the net. And McKenzie? She was on point, crushing overheads and volleying with precision.”

JV (first rotation):

Ana Luvera/Ivy Luvera beat Jing/Clara 8-2

Bree Daigneault/McKenzie Meyer beat Roslyn/Anna 8-3

Haleigh Deasy/Hanna Seiffert beat Allie/Kelsey 8-1

Maggie Crimmins/Kameryn St. Onge beat Belle/Taylor 8-4

Ashley Smith/Daigneault lost to Margaret/Mei 8-3

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“The girls put up a solid fight!!”

Posted in Girls Tennis, tagged , , , , on March 20, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Bree Daigneault (left) and Valen Trujillo take a celebratory selfie.

Bree Daigneault (left) and Valen Trujillo take a celebratory selfie. (Valen Trujillo photos)

Trujillo

Trujillo mingles with Player of the Match Jacki Ginnings.

“We lost, but I can’t say that I’m dissatisfied with the results.”

Opening against possibly their toughest foe of the season Thursday, always-dangerous South Whidbey, the CHS girls’ tennis squad fell 5-2.

But the lessons learned are just as important as the final score for Wolf coach Ken Stange.

“The girls put up a solid fight. Overall, I was happy with our first match,” he said. “South Whidbey made an ideal first opponent, in my opinion, because they are probably one of the two most difficult teams we will face this season, Charles Wright Academy being the other.

“Now, our players can take the lessons from match one, and apply them for the next few practices, until we can test our skills again next Thursday (against league foe Klahowya).”

Coupeville’s initial wins came from #1 singles player Jacki Ginnings and #3 doubles duo Valen Trujillo and Sydney Autio.

Ginnings, making her debut as the team’s top player after Allie Hanigan’s graduation, won a three-set thriller that nearly went three hours.

Coming back from a set down, she impressed Stange with her grit and tenacity, earning the first Player of the Match award this season.

“The scores don’t indicate how closely the match was contested,” Stange said. “After finding herself being run ragged in the first set, Jacki turned it around, pushing her opponent from side to side, eventually forcing her into unfavorable positions.

“There were quite a few 20+ shot points, and Jacki found herself on the winning end of the ones that counted most,” he added. “It was an exciting win for Jacki.”

Coupeville had a chance to swing the match in its favor but fell just short, losing super-competitive matches at first and fourth doubles.

The battle at first doubles was especially impressive, as freshmen Payton Aparicio and Sage Renninger came agonizingly close to upsetting a veteran Falcon pair before falling 7-5, 7-5.

“Our frosh had a 5-4 lead in each set but were unable to pick up the elusive sixth game,” Stange said. “This was the first ever high school tennis match for the duo. It was a bit of baptism by fire.

“They played with remarkable skill and composure, especially considering that they were up against a pair of experienced players,” he added. “These two have a bright future.”

Complete results:

Varsity:

1st Singles — Jacki Ginnings beat Macey Bishop 2-6, 6-1, 6-1

2nd Singles — Micky LeVine lost to Kendra Warwick 6-0, 6-2

3rd Singles — Mckenzie Meyer lost to Anna Lynch 6-2, 6-0

1st Doubles — Payton Aparicio/Sage Renninger lost to Isla Dubendorf/Iona Rohan 7-5, 7-5

2nd Doubles — McKenzie Bailey/Wynter Thorne lost to Bayley Gochanour/Taylor Hamilton 6-1, 6-3

3rd Doubles — Sydney Autio/Valen Trujillo beat Lucy Clements/Jen Le Roy 5-7, 6-2, 6-2

4th Doubles — Ana Luvera/Ivy Luvera lost to Carmen Warwick/Alex Foode 6-2, 1-6, 6-2

JV:

Bree Daigneault/Jazmine Franklin beat McKenna Chapman/Shady Moody 6-4

Haleigh Deasy/Hanna Seiffert lost to Margaret Timms/Jing Wu 6-4

Ashley Smith/Kameryn St Onge beat Savannah Taylor/Belle Grimm 6-4

Maggie Crimmins/Mckenzie Meyer beat Laura Jiles/Taylor Hamilton 6-4

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Rough night on the pitch!!

Posted in Boys Soccer, tagged , , , , , on March 19, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Wolf defenders Keegan Kortuem (18) and Oscar Liquidano (4), seen here during the jamboree, (Wendy McCormick photo)

Wolf defenders Keegan Kortuem (18) and Oscar Liquidano (4), seen here during the jamboree, played strongly Thursday in a losing effort. (Wendy McCormick photo)

Well, at least it didn’t rain all night.

The fact the liquid coldness only splattered down here and there Thursday was about the lone bright spot on a rough night for the Coupeville High School boys’ soccer squad.

Facing a tough South Whidbey squad that returned virtually everyone from a team that made the state quarterfinals a year ago, the Wolves didn’t get their first shot on goal until three minutes into the second half.

Toss in the loss of starting goaltender Joel Walstad (he sat out the second half after limping off at halftime) and the resulting 9-0 defeat wasn’t pretty.

But, with Coupeville having moved to the Olympic League, it was a non-conference loss, and, while it dropped the Wolves to 0-2, there is still a lot of soccer left to play.

The health of Walstad is a concern, and the team’s inability to break into the scoring column in the first two games another.

The Wolves spent much of the first half backpedaling as the Falcons aggressively pushed the pace of the game.

South Whidbey got in the scoring column a slim 1:33 into the game, then tacked on four more scores before the break.

One came off a highly questionable penalty kick awarded to a player whose goal was followed by a loud, popular chorus of “You’re still a flopper, dude!!” from the Coupeville JV players in the stands.

With Walstad on the bench in the second half, and backup goalie Connor McCormick unavailable after playing the entire JV game, Coupeville rustled up goaltender clothes for junior defender Tanner Kircher and threw him out there to fend as best as possible.

He actually did fairly well, making several impressive saves while fending off a barrage of Falcon shots.

Up front, the Wolves finally broke through for several shots on goal, getting pushes from Zane Bundy, Garrett Compton and others, but were turned away by South Whidbey goalie Charlie Stelling.

JV shut out:

It was largely the same story in the night’s opening contest, as South Whidbey breezed to a 6-0 win.

The Falcons only took 1:04 in this one to score their first goal, but it was the visiting goaltender who exited early after being blown up by rampaging Wolf Laurence Boado on a play in front of the net.

McCormick did his best to limit the high-powered Falcon offense, but the night’s best save was a team effort.

Down on the ground after stopping a shot, McCormick managed to get his hand on a second shot, but the ball took a South Whidbey skip, with an incoming Falcon having a seemingly wide-open third try at the net.

He failed, however, when Wolf midfielder Taylor Chiles suddenly appeared out of nowhere in the mouth of the goal, sacrificing his body and blocking the shot out of bounds with his hip.

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Falcon coach flees to Canada!!

Posted in Football, tagged , , , , on February 19, 2015| Leave a Comment »

The new boss of former South Whidbey football coach Chris Tormey.

The new boss of former South Whidbey football coach Chris Tormey.

South Whidbey High School’s loss is Montreal’s gain.

After just one season at the helm of the Falcon football program, Chris Tormey resigned to take a job in the Canadian Football League.

Tormey, who went 2-8 in his one season in Langley, losing 35-28 to Coupeville, has been a longtime college coach, but this is his first professional job.

He became the linebackers coach for the Montreal Alouettes in late Jan.

The Alouettes are one of the CFL’s premier teams, having won seven Grey Cups, with the last title coming in 2010.

During his college gridiron coaching days, Tormey went 49-54 with stints at Idaho and Nevada. He was a longtime assistant at the University of Washington, putting in 16 years with the Huskies.

The South Whidbey change is the second to hit Whidbey Island this year, with Brett Smedley having replaced Tony Maggio in Coupeville.

Maggio put in three years as the helm of the Wolves, beating South Whidbey twice and leaving The Bucket in possession of CHS when he departed to spend more time focusing on work and family.

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The son also rises!!

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged , , , , , , , on December 3, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Lewis Pope (Shelli Trumbull photos)

Lewis Pope made an impressive debut for the Falcons. (Shelli Trumbull photos)

Joel Walstad pumped in seven for the Wolves, who lost for the second straight night.

Joel Walstad pumped in seven for the Wolves, who lost for the second straight night.

Pope discusses strategy with new SWHS coach Mike Washington, who moved down the Island after eight seasons in Oak Harbor.

   Pope discusses strategy with new SWHS coach Mike Washington, who moved down the Island after running the boys’ hoops program in Oak Harbor.

The legacy lives on.

Seventeen months after the premature death of his father, South Whidbey High School boys’ basketball coach Henry Pope, Falcon freshman Lewis Pope stepped on his home court Tuesday night, wearing a #15 uniform in memory of his father’s birthday, and dazzled.

His 12-point performance, added to 30 from senior Parker Collins and 13 from junior Ricky Muzzy, was more than Coupeville could handle as it absorbed its second non-conference loss in as many nights.

Now 0-2 on the season after a 74-47 defeat, the Wolves have suffered from a similar pattern — strong first quarter, then a major stumble that forces them to play from far behind the rest of the night.

Trailing by just a point at 14-13 at the first break, Coupeville was drilled 25-13 in the second quarter and 19-9 in the third.

Then, just like they did Monday, they rallied a bit in the fourth quarter, long after the game was decided.

The Wolves were paced by senior Aaron Curtin, who banged away for 15 points, five rebounds and three steals in his second game back on the court.

After lettering as a freshman and sophomore, he sat out his junior year, but returned with his sweet shooting touch intact.

Wiley Hesselgrave and Joel Walstad chipped in seven apiece in support, while CJ Smith hit for six.

Risen Johnson and Gabe Wynn each popped for four and Aaron Trumbull and Ryan Griggs added a bucket apiece.

Much as in their loss to Meridian, turnovers killed the Wolves. They brought them down from 25 to 16, but it was still too many.

“Just like the last game, we played well in the first half and had our problems in the second half,” said CHS coach Anthony Smith. “We had a lot better effort at times; now we have a couple days to work on things so can get a victory Friday.”

Coupeville returns to action with home games Friday (Darrington) and Saturday (Bellevue Christian).

JV loses: Still missing several players who aren’t eligible yet, the young Wolves struggled, falling 76-26.

Individual scoring stats weren’t available.

While his squad is now 0-2, JV coach Dustin Van Velkinburgh is not ready to write the season off.

“We have talent and it is my job to make the best use of that talent and to get these athletes to perform at a level that is higher than they see possible,” he said. “I’m committed to making that happen.”

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