Tenley Stuurmans and her CMS volleyball teammates are here to rule the gym. (Scott Stuurmans photo)
She’s a terror.
Playing her best at crunch time Wednesday, Coupeville Middle School 7th grader Tenley Stuurmans penned another triumphant chapter in her family’s long, successful sports history.
Sparked by their wild child in the #1 jersey, the Wolf varsity volleyball spikers roared from behind to gut a Sultan squad that thought it was cruising to victory.
Spoiler alert: Coupeville’s first-string, all six players, is better than the 17 Turks piled up on the opposite bench.
The Wolves, especially on this day, were feistier, grittier, and far more cold-blooded when it came time to chop off heads (metaphorically…) and let their opponents bleed out on the hardwood.
Which is why Stuurmans, Lexis Drake, Capri Anter, Rhylin Price, Adeline Maynes, and the queen of the knee-buckling slicers, one Haylee Armstrong, won 14-25, 25-18, 15-10.
Now a pristine 2-0 on the season, with back-to-back three-set thrillers in the win column, the Wolves are on the prowl and ready to square off with King’s next Monday, Oct. 10.
It’ll be the team’s third-straight home match, then CMS hits the open road for treks to Granite Falls, Northshore Christian Academy, and a rematch with Sultan.
That should be a brawl, but one the Wolves are prepared for, knowing they have the ability to yank a win out of the jaws of defeat.
Wednesday’s tilt started as a back-and-forth affair in the first set, before Sultan used a stellar run at the service stripe to stretch a 9-7 lead out to 16-7.
Coupeville fought back, with Armstrong popping off a couple service winners before sliding face-first across the floor to save the ball on a defensive stand.
But it wasn’t quite enough, and the Turks had some strut in their step as the teams went to the bench between sets.
That soon evaporated, however, as CMS fought back, and fought back hard.
Maynes impressed her large fan base with an explosive ace, which dropped suddenly, bit a chunk out of the floor, then skidded away as two Turks swung and missed.
Add in a play where Stuurmans made a sensational save, pulling the ball out of the net with her back to the other team, followed by Price elevating for the put away, and the momentum had shifted.
Drake mashed a pair of winners on her serve, before Stuurmans went on an extended tour of duty at the same stripe, rifling seven straight points to push CMS ahead 18-7.
Coupeville’s biggest lead in the middle set came at 21-9, as a Sultan player slipped just as she went to return a shot.
Her leg went one way, her shoe departed her body and went the other way, screaming “Freedom!”, and the ball ended up somewhere in the rafters.
The play actually seemed to inspire Sultan however, with the Turks going on an 8-1 run after the wayward shoe was retrieved and firmly tied back into place.
The Wolves weren’t having it, though, and the splendid six bore back down, knotting things at a set apiece after Stuurmans froze the entire gym in place on set point, angling a tip one way while all the Turks went in the other direction.
With the match on the line, and Sultan’s fans having gone dead quiet, the ref pulled veteran linesmen Katie Kiel and Nathaniel Leavitt out of the stands for quality control.
Most of their job? Signaling the ball was in, as the Wolf servers dominated in the home stretch.
Stuurmans, twirling the ball and arching an eyebrow ever so slightly, went ballistic at the stripe, racking up seven of her team’s final 15 points on her serve.
An ace down the middle of the court.
A wicked ace which slashed over the net and dove like a submarine fleeing WW2 bombers.
And just for the thrill of it, an ace off the face is the gift which stings all night long.
Maynes and Drake hit winners on their serve, as well, with Maynes also offering up a gorgeous slice return which spun away from Sultan’s defenders and staked Coupeville to a lead it wouldn’t relinquish.
The victory, and the way it was achieved, left CMS coaches Cris Matochi and Raven Vick with satisfied smiles on their faces.
“We worked a lot in practice on moving to the ball, and doing so with commitment,” Matochi said. “Do everything with a purpose and play big girl volleyball.
“I was very pleased with how we’ve improved already in this time.”
That’s something Vick agrees with.
“We’re seeing them apply the technical skills we’ve taught them,” she said. “That is very encouraging.”
JV stands tall:
Coupeville’s second unit got progressively stronger as the match went on, fighting for every point in a 25-16, 25-21 loss.
Now 1-1 on the season, the JV unit was as close as 14-13 in the opening set, before Sultan pulled away thanks to some underhanded, lob-heavy precision serving.
Cheyanne Atteberry paced the Wolves in the early going, netting two winners off of well-placed return shots, while Emma Leavitt, Willow Leedy-Bonifas, and KeeArya Brown all came up with big-time plays.
The second set was much like the first, though closer.
Coupeville played from behind most of the time, but never allowed Sultan to dominate, and eventually got within 21-20 late.
Leedy-Bonifas had the hot hand at the stripe this time around, picking up three points on her serve, while Isabella Bowder, Brown, and Leavitt also notched winners.
Alexis Hewitt and Olivia Martin rounded out the active roster, both seeing floor time and injecting an air of electricity with their hustle.
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