Emma Smith (13) has a brief moment of rest in between the six matches she and her Wolf volleyball teammates played Friday. (Photo courtesy Konni Smith)
The Wolves hit the floor at the 32-team SunDome Volleyball Festival. (Cory Whitmore photo)
Now they know.
Getting a first-hand look at what a trip to the state tourney would look and feel like, the Coupeville High School volleyball squad invaded Yakima and came away rich with victories and valuable experience.
The Wolves left the Island Thursday afternoon and returned to their home gym at 2:30 AM Saturday, having won four of six matches in between at the SunDome Volleyball Festival.
The event, played on the very same courts which host the 1A state tourney, attracted 32 teams from four classifications (2B, 1B, 1A, 2A) for Friday’s battle royale.
Coupeville finished second in its four-team pool, then jumped into bracket play and claimed second again, this time after facing off with the other #2 seeds.
And they did that all in the middle of a madhouse.
“The team (myself included) has been very excited about this tournament for a long time,” said CHS coach Cory Whitmore. “I’m very happy with the challenges that we faced and worked through.
“I was impressed with our ability to settle into our game in a very large and distracting environment,” he added. “There were eight courts playing at once, loud fans, bright lights up in high ceilings, but this did not seem to effect the girls to a great degree.
“Down the stretch, it will be very valuable to have this experience under our belts.”
Coupeville took 10 of its 11 varsity players (Allison Wenzel was auditioning for a symphony) and six top JV spikers on the trip, giving a large group of Wolves a chance to enjoy the big time.
“The whole experience was meant to be used as a team-bonding experience, a competitive challenge and a test of our ability to travel and perform,” Whitmore said.
The Wolves opened pool play with a hard-fought loss to powerful La Salle, falling 25-19, 25-10, then immediately found their groove.
After thrashing Lyle-Wishram 25-8, 25-8, Coupeville belted Kittitas — which had split sets with La Salle — 25-23, 25-18 to clinch second place.
“I was very pleased to see us get back to an aggressive and consistent play,” Whitmore said. “Our servers were very strong and aggressive and then our hitting approaches were bigger, resulting in more dynamic attacks.”
Three matches in and just at the halfway point of their day, the Wolves grabbed a quick bite before jumping into bracket play, this time with longer matches.
While pool play featured two-set matches, bracket play was a best two-of-three format.
Rolling at that point, Coupeville clouted 2A Selah’s JV team 25-22, 18-25, 15-8, then whomped on Overlake (“a very tough team with very strong hitters”) 25-22, 25-18 to advance to the championship match in its bracket.
In the title tilt they faced off with Brewster, which has advanced to state five of the past seven years, and tired bodies finally betrayed the Wolves as they lost in straight sets.
“We played well, but were always chasing a very good Bears team,” Whitmore said. “We ran out of attacking steam.
“I was happy to see our passing and defense remain consistent, but, without a tough serve, Brewster was able to run their offense very effectively.”
As he reflected on the tourney and his team’s success, Coupeville’s volleyball guru exuded a satisfied glow.
He hailed Payton Aparicio, Katrina McGranahan, Lauren Rose, Ashley Menges, Hope Lodell and Maya Toomey-Stout for doing “a phenomenal job from the service line” all tourney.
“They served tough and to specific spots, taking out hitters and their effectiveness.”
Once the ball was in play, fellow Wolves like Mikayla Elfrank, Scout Smith, Kyla Briscoe and Emma Smith “were able to put up a solid block, slowing their attack and allowing our back row to turn defense into offense.”
Being able to bring top-level play even when it was on its sixth match of the day, is a huge positive for a Coupeville squad which will take its 2-0 regular season record back into play Tuesday at Bellevue Christian.
“I was very happy to see how we performed at the end of a long day, in a new environment and deep on the road,” Whitmore said. “It is a testament to this team’s tenacity and resilience.”
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