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Posts Tagged ‘Sultan’

Let’s do the mud run again

Posted in Cross Country, Middle School, tagged , , , , on October 18, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Alex Bowder fears not your puny rain. (Elizabeth Bitting photos)

The end result of running in the October mud.

Cole White is crowned as the Fall King.

It was messy. It was weird. But it was fun, too.

Running for the final time during the regular season, the Coupeville Middle School cross country team and coach Elizabeth Bitting survived a wild trip Thursday to Sultan.

The Wolves didn’t get lost on the 1.7 mile trail at Osprey Park — that was a different school, thanks to “high school hooligans removing signs on the course, and causing a 30 minute delay.”

Once the missing team was found, and everyone was assured no one had resorted to cannibalism while lost in the wilds, the weather took front stage.

October rain dumped in buckets, turning the course into a wet, muddy, slippery obstacle course.

But all of the Wolves endured, plus they got to see salmon spawn on the trip (and no cannibals), so win-win.

“It was a very eventful afternoon!,” Bitting said. “Both boys and girls ran amazingly!

“Goals were met, mud was all over runners legs, runner were drenched, and on the bus ride to Granite all I hear is laughter!,” she added. “This coach is content!”

Bitting also added a big shout-out to bus driver Kathy Bennett, who had to haul two cross country teams to different towns Thursday.

While the middle school harriers hopped off in Sultan, the high school runners stayed on the bus until it reached Granite Falls.

“For this race, I felt for our wonderful bus driver,” Bitting said. “THANK YOU, Kathy!!”

With the regular season ending Thursday, the CMS runners have one meet left, but it’s a big one.

The Wolves head off to South Whidbey Oct. 23 for the Cascade League Championships.

 

Complete Thursday results:

 

7th/8th graders:

GIRLS:

Ayden Wyman (16th) 13:22.6
Marlen Montiel (18th) 13:58.7
Lillian Stanwood (19th) 13:58.9
Sofia Milasich (21st) 14:07.6
Edie Bittner (22nd) 14:19.0
Sam McMahon (26th) 14:42.5
Erica McGrath (30th) 14:57.7
Aubrey Blitch (31st) 15:23.8

BOYS:

Cole White (5th) 10:42.6
Jack Porter (7th) 10:46.4
Landon Roberts (11th) 10:54.3
Hank Milnes (12th) 10:55.5
Hayden Harry (28th) 11:43.5
Jayden Moses (32nd) 11:48.7
Thomas Strelow (48th) 12:30.4
Johnny Porter (52nd) 12:40.9
Alex Clark (65th) 14:51.6
Alex Bowder (66th) 14:54.4
Gabe Reed (70th) 18:18.3

 

6th graders (Times recorded, but not standings):

GIRLS:

Teagan Calkins 13:17
Aleksia Jump 14:01
Dianne Brown 14:40
Brynn Parker 14:42
Liza Zustiak 15:02

BOYS:

Cody Badger 11:40
Malichi Somes 11:54
George Spear 13:33
Adrian Cunningham 17:39

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Wolf booters back in playoff hunt

Posted in Girls Soccer, tagged , , , , on October 15, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Coupeville goaltender Mollie Bailey recorded a shutout Tuesday, lifting the Wolves to a crucial 1-0 win at home against Sultan. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Sultan tried to get rough, but Coupeville is too tough.

Avalon Renninger bled for her team, Nezi Keiper made a rival lose her cool, and Mallory Kortuem proved stronger than the prairie wind, and now the Wolf girls soccer squad is back in the playoff hunt.

Pulling out a 1-0 win against visiting Sultan Tuesday, Coupeville finally broke into the win column after several close calls.

Buffeted by injuries to key players, the Wolves have been better than their 1-9-2 record might indicate.

And now, with the shutout victory against the Turks, Coupeville moves into a tie with Sultan at 1-6 in North Sound Conference play.

With three games left in the regular season, South Whidbey (7-0, 11-0-1) and King’s (6-1, 9-4) are chasing a league title, while Cedar Park Christian (3-4, 6-5) and Granite Falls (3-4, 6-6) are holding steady in the middle of the six-team league.

Five teams make the playoffs, and Coupeville has a slightly easier schedule than Sultan, which plays South Whidbey, King’s, and CPC to wrap up things.

The Wolves travel to CPC Thursday, make a short trip to South Whidbey next Monday, then close at home Wednesday, Oct. 23 against Granite Falls.

If CHS and Sultan remain deadlocked eight days from now, the teams will play a tiebreaker game Oct. 24, and it will be at Coupeville’s Mickey Clark Field.

The #5 seed from the NSC hosts a district play-in game Oct. 26 against the #4 seed from the Northwest Conference, which is currently an 0-12 Mount Baker team.

For their part, the Wolf players would prefer to punch their playoff ticket without having to go through Sultan again, which took the first meeting by a similar 1-0 score.

“I don’t really want to see them anymore,” said freshman Nezi Keiper. “I’m fine if we don’t have to play them again.”

Having already witnessed Renninger bleed on the field after taking an elbow to the nose Tuesday, Keiper, fellow defender Carolyn Lhamon, and goaltender Mollie Bailey shared a laugh about something else late in the game.

At which point a frustrated Turk glared at Keiper and blurted, “It’ll be funny when I punch you in the face.”

To which I say, you picked the wrong Wolf to try and buffalo.

Keiper is a former football lineman, who bench presses 700 pounds and eats nails for breakfast.

Well, at least the first of those three things is true, but she’s also not a player likely to get pushed around on the field anytime soon, under any conditions.

With Keiper and Lhamon, and senior captain Tia Wurzrainer anchoring the defense, the Wolves kept the Turks from mounting much of an attack.

Playing with the wind in the second half, Sultan finally pushed the ball onto the other side of the field, but Bailey was there to meet them with open arms (which collected all their shots).

Sultan’s best scoring opportunity came late in stoppage time, that magical slice of the clock where only the lead ref knows how many ticks of the clock are truly left in the game.

Desperate to get a tying score, the Turks were handed a golden opportunity, awarded a free kick at the 40-yard line.

The ball was mashed on a line, with the wind flowing behind the wobbly orb, but Bailey laughed one final time, stepping in front of the shot, bouncing slightly off the ground, and snaring the incoming missile.

That closed a battle of wills, a donnybrook where the Wolves proved to be the better team on almost every play.

Coupeville had 1,001 shots on goal in the first half, but Sultan net-minder Amanda McKay played inspired ball, deflecting each Wolf attack with precision.

Renninger had a great scoring opportunity, as did Lhamon, as did Sophia Martin, as did Anna Dion, as did Lhamon again, as did Kortuem several times, as did Wurzrainer, unloading a laser from midfield.

Each time McKay was exactly where she needed to be at the very last second, and, even playing with the Whidbey wind gunning for her face, she carried Sultan into the locker room with a scoreless tie intact.

One of her teammates wasn’t quite as lucky, as she dodged the wind only to take a soccer ball to the face from three paces.

Staggered but unbowed, the Turk wobbled, weaved, then kept on playing.

Much like Renninger, the pluckiest of plucky players, the calm, cool, and eternally serene captain who got crunched in the face (fairly accidentally it seemed), and added her blood to the mix of fluids to decorate the Coupeville pitch over the years.

“I thought it was snot,” she told her dad after the game, as she moved her nose gingerly. “It was NOT!!”

Still, Renninger proved why she is among the most-revered of all Wolf athletes, anchoring her squad through the facial pain.

Afterwards, as she headed for the parking lot, her voice a mix of tiredness, pain, and pride, she remarked, “Yep, going home and doing some homework and getting some sleep. Maybe just some sleep … sleep sounds good.”

Making sure Renninger’s dreams will be pleasant, Kortuem went toe-to-toe with the breeze which kept the fans in the stands bouncing around to stay warm.

Slashing through defenders, the ball on her foot, Coupeville’s speed demon cranked a wicked shot through the wind, narrowly slipping it past the outstretched fingers of McKay and into the back of the net.

Her first goal of the season, and fifth of her career, Kortuem’s crowd-pleaser came with 24 minutes to play in the game, and would be all the Wolf defense needed to secure the win.

Afterwards, as his players bounced around, awash in their celebration (and not being punched in the face), CHS coach Kyle Nelson surveyed the scene and smiled.

“A well-deserved victory,” he said. “The defense did a nice job and adjusted with the wind, doing all the right things we talked about.”

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“I love it. I just love it.”

Posted in Volleyball, tagged , , , , on October 10, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Raven Vick had a very strong night at the service stripe Wednesday, helping power Coupeville to a big bounce-back win. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Hannah Davidson delivered 11 kills, two aces, and two blocks in the home win over Sultan. (Brian Vick photo)

It wasn’t perfect, but it’ll do.

Two days after absorbing their only loss of the season — a brutal beat-down at the hands of state power King’s — the Coupeville High School varsity volleyball squad roared back to life.

Playing without explosive hitter Chelsea Prescott, who suffered a brutal ankle injury in the loss, the Wolves stuffed visiting Sultan Wednesday night 25-10, 25-9, 23-25, 25-15.

The win lifts Coupeville to 4-1 in North Sound Conference play, 8-1 overall.

The Wolves are a game back of King’s (5-0, 8-0) and a game up on Cedar Park Christian (3-2, 8-3), at the halfway point of the league season.

South Whidbey, Granite Falls, and Sultan are holding on to the bottom three slots currently.

Coupeville travels to Port Townsend Thursday for a non-conference tilt with the RedHawks (1-7), before playing four of its final five league games on the road.

With its eight seniors making their next-to-last regular-season appearance on their home floor, and both teams celebrating Dig Pink Night and the fight against breast cancer, Coupeville was looking for a bounce-back game.

And the Wolves got it, as they controlled play all night, even factoring in a brief slip-up in the third set.

“It was good to get back after it and get a win again,” said CHS coach Cory Whitmore. “We had a productive practice with a very productive team meeting and we went after making adjustments to not having Chelsea for the time being.

“We had a third set lull and relaxed too much but got it together for the fourth set and ultimately the win.”

While the Wolves wanted to wash away the bad taste from their King’s loss, they also wanted to honor those fighting against, and those lost to, cancer.

The event drew a large crowd, with money donated to the cause and attention drawn to the battle.

“The event was fantastic and the turn-out was great with incredible energy as we played for a very important cause,” Whitmore said.

With freshman Lucy Tenore replacing Prescott in the lineup, the Wolves came out firing from the start.

Scout Smith opened things up with a 5-0 run at the service stripe, and she got big-time help from her teammates.

Fellow senior Maya Toomey-Stout erupted for a big kill on the first rally, blasting a ball off the back line, then made an eye-popping one-handed save on a later ball few could have caught up with.

Sprinting in a way which reminded all the fans why they refer to her as “The Gazelle,” Toomey-Stout punched the ball skyward at the last second, angling it perfectly to a waiting Zoe Trujillo, who lashed an immediate winner, sending the Turks scurrying for cover.

There weren’t too many places for Sultan’s players to hide, however, as Hannah Davidson, stepping up and delivering her most complete performance of the season, was on the rampage.

Mixing up thunderous spikes with note-perfect tips, then tossing in some service aces and blocks at the net to complete her mid-week masterpiece, Davidson gave dad Micheal plenty to celebrate.

“That’s my girl right there!!!!!!!,” papa screamed, while Whitmore was a little more laid-back, yet just as appreciative, in his post-match dissection, smiling and nodding as he intoned, “Hannah was huge for us tonight.”

Coupeville led from start to finish in the opening frame, continuously stretching the lead out, before Toomey-Stout (with a spike off a rival’s arm) and Trujillo (with an artful tip winner) closed the set.

If big hits was the theme in set one, sizzlin’ serves dominated the conversation in the second frame.

Raven Vick ripped off three straight winners, before Toomey-Stout came around to pour gas on the fire with a 10-0 run helped out by Davidson delivering winners on four of five points during one part of the run.

Again, Sultan never led in the set, and seemed primed to accept a straight sets beatin’ and get back on the bus.

But something changed as the third set played out, from the Turks taking their first lead of the night at 2-1, then hanging tough all the way through.

Toomey-Stout, Davidson, and Trujillo were still savaging Sultan at the net, with Maddie Vondrak sliding in to deliver some soul-shaking hits of her own, but the visitors didn’t melt away the third time around.

With the set knotted at 15-15, Vick came bounding off the bench to finally, seemingly, slam the door on the Turks.

A 6-0 run on her serve, topped by a play on which Toomey-Stout went airborne while swinging one hand, then suddenly changed hands in midair and blasted a winner with arm #2, shoved the lead to 21-15.

It was over … and then it wasn’t.

Sultan got a side-out, put the ball in the hands of its best server, and threw down its own unexpected, and faintly disturbing, 8-0 run to regain the lead, while pushing Coupeville to the brink.

Vondrak finally stopped the bleeding, delivering a monstrous mash of a winner, but the damage was done, and, for only the fourth time in nine matches, the Wolves dropped a set.

If Whitmore was disturbed, he hid it well, keeping a poker face for the fans and assorted word scribblers in attendance, but leaning in close to talk to his players as they sat on the bench.

Whatever words of wisdom were passed on did the trick, as the Wolves played out the fourth set much more like sets #1 and #2 than #3.

Once again, they led the entire way, they dictated the action, and all the big blows were dealt by young women wearing black uniforms.

Vick and Trujillo added one more strong run at the line apiece, while Tenore rose up above the net to let the world know she’s coming, and the spikes will be deadly and plentiful.

But it was Toomey-Stout, as it has often been over these last four remarkable years, who provided the final punctuation.

Taking flawless sets from Smith, her close friend, “The Gazelle” attacked again and again, delivering a season-high 19 kills, each one more explosively dynamic than the previous one.

With twin brother Sean leading the student section, stomping and screaming, Maya played with a brutal beauty, daring the ball not to pop under her ferocious attacks.

Huge smile on her face, mom Lisa leaned back and whispered, “She is going to be one tired girl tonight.”

At which point her daughter, once again defying gravity, flew by and pasted a cross-court winner to end the match, then landed in a group hug as her teammates mobbed her in glee.

Port Townsend was right around the corner, with the stretch run of league play looming ahead.

But in the moment, as Emma Mathusek and Lucy Sandahl and Smith and all her teammates bounced up and down, all Toomey-Stout could do was smile the all-encompassing smile of a winner.

In the stands, her mom leaned back and smiled even bigger.

“I love it. I just love it.”

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Deadly, yet delightful

Posted in Volleyball, tagged , , , , on October 10, 2019| Leave a Comment »

When she wasn’t flicking sets, Maddie Georges was lights-out at the service stripe Wednesday, helping the Coupeville JV spikers thrash visiting Sultan. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Pick your poison.

The Coupeville High School JV volleyball squad can kill you in numerous ways, from scorching service aces to blistering kills to lil’ tips.

And the Wolves brought everything in the tool box Wednesday, bedeviling Sultan on the way to a 25-10, 25-16, 25-19 victory on the floor of the CHS gym.

The win lifts Coupeville to 4-1 in North Sound Conference play, 6-2 overall.

After pushing powerhouse King’s all around the court for much of Monday’s razor-thin three-set loss, the Wolves came out ready to thump on Sultan.

It started with Abby Mulholland dancing at the net, blasting a pair of kills which tore off the back line, then veered to Kylie Chernikoff going nuclear on the ball, before Heidi Meyers started droppin’ service aces like a finely-tuned machine.

While there were three ties in the early going, the last one at 7-7, the Wolves started to pull ahead after Meyers made a four-point run on serve.

Another spike off of Mulholland’s fingers stretched the lead to 13-10, secured a side-out, and put the ball into the hands of Maddie Georges.

At which point Mad Dog got crazy.

The freshmen setter stayed at the service stripe for the remainder of the set, ripping off 12 straight points on serve.

Georges got a wee bit of help from Chernikoff, who tore a girl’s leg off with a laser of a spike, Taygin Jump, who mashed a winner while hanging in midair, and Ryanne Knoblich, who dropped in a bump winner while on the move.

But 92.3% of the time, it was Georges doing the damage during the 12-0 run, zipping aces to the right, to the left, then right down the middle of the floor.

The only thing which slowed her roll was the end of the set, which required a change of benches, and the introduction of new servers to the line.

Her replacements immediately picked up where Georges left off.

Jill Prince and Jaimee Masters served up a tasty buffet of aces, while Anya Leavell operated as an assassin, picking off rivals with a variety of spikes which sliced, diced and julienned anyone who got in their way.

While Sultan got closer as the match played out, the third set offered up a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde-style transformation.

Fresh from losing the first two sets, the Turks shocked the world by roaring out to an 8-0 lead, eventually gave it all back, then collapsed at the end.

Georges started the comeback, with a second strong run on serve, with Knoblich, Mulholland, and Gwen Gustafson bringing the pain at the net.

Back-to-back winners from Prince, on a spike, then a tip, knotted things at 15-15, before pushing the Wolves ahead for the first time in the final frame.

Sultan kept it close, only to see Knoblich deliver back-to-back aces to stretch the lead back out.

With the match roaring to the finish line, Coupeville crafted the best play of the entire match while up 23-18.

Wolf libero Alita Blouin, who spent the entire match sacrificing her body for the good of the team, sliding across the floor, collecting digs by scraping balls off the floor, sprinkled some magic on the floor.

Making a spectacular diving save on a ball which was all but dead, she flipped the ball skyward, setting up Mulholland, who came crashing through and blasted the ball for what seemed to be the decisive final word.

Except Gustafson went her one better on the very next, and very final, play, twirling into the air, freezing for a second, then unloading a match-ending kill which blew the doors off the gym.

Like I said, pick your poison, cause they’re all going to kill you.

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CMS spike crew invades Sultan

Posted in Middle School, Volleyball, tagged , , , , on October 7, 2019| Leave a Comment »

CMS spiker Katie Marti, seen in an earlier match, had a strong service game going Monday in Sultan. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

Wolves (l to r) Mia Farris, Grey Peabody, and Savina Wells team up on a play.

There was a little something for everyone.

The Coupeville Middle School volleyball team piled into the bus Monday and headed off to the far reaches of Sultan, where it picked up a big win, a close loss, and a less close loss.

How things played out:

 

Level 1:

The closest match of the day, as Sultan came back to win a thriller 23-25, 25-13, 15-9.

The loss drops Coupeville’s top team to 0-4 on the season.

Savina Wells paced the Wolves, winning nine points on her serve, while Olivia Schaffeld, Katie Marti, and Mia Farris brought home success for their team on eight of their offerings.

Marti was especially big in the final set, picking up five of Coupeville’s nine points while working behind the service stripe.

Also putting up strong serves for CMS were Taylor Brotemarkle (six points), Chloe Marzocca (4), Lyla Stuurmans (3), and Grey Peabody (2).

 

Level 2:

Coupeville’s biggest romp, as the Wolves rolled to a 25-3, 25-13, 15-8 win.

Now 3-1 on the season, the middle CMS squad was led by the play of Brionna Blouin, Madison McMillan, and Issabel Johnson.

Mixing sizzlin’ serves with strong “three hits and over” play, the Wolves dominated from start to finish.

 

Level 3:

The toughest match of the afternoon, as CMS fell 25-5, 25-2, 15-8.

With the loss, the Wolves fall to 1-3 on the season, headed into a home match Wednesday against Lakewood.

Oktober Frost picked up three points on serve for Coupeville, while Jones Walther, Maryah Love, Jackie Contreras, Bryley Gilbert, and Kaylee Clark collected two points apiece.

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