Taylor Brotemarkle delivered another strong all-around performance Thursday as the Coupeville JV spikers won their third-straight match. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)
Ruthless.
Or, exactly the way you like to see them play.
Taking advantage of every Orcas Island error, while not committing a whole lot of their own Thursday, the Coupeville High School JV volleyball squad strolled to a straight-sets win.
Dominating play from start to finish, the Wolf spikers captured a 25-15, 25-10 home victory to remain perfect on the season.
Now 3-0, Coupeville’s JV has yet to drop a set in Northwest 2B/1B League action.
After polishing off Concrete and Mount Vernon Christian in earlier matches, the Wolves jumped all over the Vikings.
Orcas stayed close for a half-second, remaining within 6-5 in the first set, before Coupeville made its move.
When the Wolves struck, they did so with power and precision.
The first big blow came courtesy freshman Mia Farris, who popped a spike right down the middle of the floor for a winner, grabbing control of service from the visitors.
That sent Gwen Gustafson to the line, and she was electric, running off seven straight points on her serve.
The opening salvo was a crisp ace which dropped from the heavens and skidded away from the Orcas hitters, while three other points during the run came on serves which the Vikings also couldn’t get back into play.
One of the few times the visitors staged a mini-rally off of a Gustafson serve, the back-and-forth finished prematurely.
That’s because Wolf frosh Madison McMillan promptly rose up and unleashed a spike which crashed into the back corner for a decisive rally-ender.
Madison McMillan filled up the stat sheet.
From there, Farris, Taylor Brotemarkle, and Issabel Johnson all had strong runs at the service line, as CHS closed out the opening set with conviction.
The prettiest point came courtesy Brotemarkle, who bounded into the air as she approached the net, deftly dropping a hook shot over the heads of several Vikings who could do little but watch the ball bounce merrily away.
While Coupeville let Orcas hang around for a bit in set one, it did no such thing in round two.
Brotemarkle fired off some nasty serves — she had a team-high six aces on the night — and the Wolves jumped out to a 6-0 lead, effectively ending things right from the get-go.
Jada Heaton sparkled in set #2, twice teaming up with a friend to deny Orcas at the net.
The first block was made by a team-up between Heaton and Katie Marti, while the second featured Aby Wood getting in on the action.
Toss in a spike from Gustafson which sliced off a rival player’s knee-cap, and one from McMillan which blew a large crater in the hardwood floor as it slammed down, and Coupeville coasted in for the win.
A look at the stat sheet backs up what fans saw with their own eyes — it was a remarkably consistent team-wide attack, sure to make coach Ashley Menges dream happy dreams.
McMillan pounded home four kills to pace the Wolves, while she and Johnson each had three digs.
Marti topped the team with two assists, with Farris and McMillan both collecting three aces to go with the six from Brotemarkle.
Coupeville Sports 