Coupeville spikers (left to right) Lyla Stuurmans, Mia Farris, and Jada Heaton can all return next year to make another run at state tourney glory. (Jennifer Heaton photo)
The competition was fierce.
Thanks to a shocking first round upset by a #13 seed, the Coupeville High School volleyball squad ended up playing two of the top five teams in 2B Wednesday at the state tournament in Yakima.
And while the Wolves weren’t quite able to pull off their own upsets, they did send a strong message with their play, and the promise of more to come.
After starting the season 1-4, Coupeville finishes 12-7, while ending La Conner’s 12+ year unbeaten run in the Northwest 2B/1B League, and can return eight of 10 varsity spikers next season.
And those Braves, who had won four straight state titles?
Losses to Toutle Lake and Walla Walla Valley Academy — a lower-ranked team — knocked La Conner out of this tourney while the Wolves were still on the floor.
Even with the tentative start, the 12 wins were the most for a Wolf varsity squad since 2019, and just two off the program record for a single season.
CHS has recorded double-digit win totals in seven of eight years under coach Cory Whitmore, with the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign limited to just nine matches.
Now that the current crew has tasted life in the SunDome, with multiple courts hosting matches at the same time, the lure to return will burn brightly.
“We’ll be back next year!” said one Wolf Dad, and it’s easy to believe.
Getting ready for the bright lights. (Jennifer Marzocca photo)
How this go-around turned out:
Lind-Ritzville-Sprague:
Coupeville, seeded #12, clashed with #5 Lind-Ritzville-Sprague — whose alumni include Coupeville’s head coach — to open the tourney.
Or, at least they eventually did, as a five-set match ahead of them delayed their bout by more than a half hour.
Once on the floor, the Wolves proved scrappy, pushing their foes all the way in a 25-19, 25-20, 25-20 loss.
Coupeville never led in the opening set, but did hang tough, remaining within two points as late as 21-19.
Katie Marti had a nice run at the service stripe midway through the frame, while fellow junior Lyla Stuurmans came crashing in from the side to rattle teeth with a collection of kills.
The second set was fairly similar, in least in terms of scoring, with the Wolves trailing almost the entire way, but never letting L-R-S pull too far away.
Mia Farris, Teagan Calkins, and Grey Peabody crunched big hits, with Calkins, a mere sophomore, ambling across the court, cool and calm, before raining down hot death from above.
Marti had the magic fingers, rifling a service ace off the backline, then coming back around to freeze the world before flipping a winner into a narrow crack in the defense.
Madison McMillan has been a steady presence for the Wolves all season. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
An ace from Madison McMillan, which smacked into the would-be returner, crawled up her body, softly thunked her in the bottom of the chin, then shot away screaming “Freedom!” was huge, and the Wolves fought off several set points.
But L-R-S is a regular at the big dance, and the Broncos did just enough to hold off Coupeville every time it threatened to really surge.
Farris spent most of the third set sniping, whacking the ball where her foes couldn’t catch up to the rapidly descending orb, while Stuurmans got fancy on a winner of her own.
Her spike caught the top of the net, hung in midair, all but sticking its tongue out at the Broncos, then suddenly crashed to the floor before any of them could even get a full swing at it.
While L-R-S eventually made off with the win, advancing to the winner side of the brackets, Coupeville departed the floor with its players holding their heads high.
Goldendale:
This wasn’t supposed to be the opponent.
But #13 Liberty (Spangle), ignoring the fact #4 Goldendale was 19-1 entering the tourney, wiped the floor with the favorites, sweeping them in straight sets.
That set the Timberwolves tumbling into a loser-out rumble with Coupeville, and the two squads battled it out across four hotly contested sets.
This time around, the Wolves led for almost the entirety of the first frame, lost the advantage late, but rallied to take the third set in an eventual 25-22, 25-13, 19-25, 25-13 loss.
CHS came out primed for battle, hurtling to a 6-1 lead after Farris went on a rampage at the service stripe, then held off Goldendale for much of the next half hour.
Key kills from Peabody and Farris kept the Wolves in front, while Stuurmans chopped off a rival’s arm with a brutal putaway to push her squad in front at 21-20.
Unfortunately, that was when Goldendale finally clicked in, closing the set on a 5-1 run to flip the match on its head.
With their belief in themselves restored, the Timberwolves kept up the heated attack in the second frame, swarming Coupeville during the one set of the day where the Wolves seemed to come unstuck for a bit.
Calkins popped a gorgeous service ace, which came in hot and dove between the legs of a Goldendale player, but you could feel things slipping away from CHS for much of the set.
But then, as they so often did this season, the Wolves bounced right back from a low point to once again soar high.
Grey Peabody, ready to crush it. (Jackie Saia photo)
With the third set knotted at 10-10, Peabody made her first appearance at the service line, and immediately paid dividends.
The senior captain ran off five points, notching an ace, while getting crucial support from Farris and her deadly right hand, which was locked ‘n loaded and looking to spray kills.
Goldendale crept back to within 18-17, but wham-bam-wham, three straight kills, two from Peabody and one on which Stuurmans rose to the rafters before unleashing bedlam, sent the Timberwolves back down.
Calkins matched Peabody with a five-point run on serve to push Coupeville to the cusp of a set win, before her older teammate crushed a winner right down the middle of the floor on set point.
The fourth set was close, until it wasn’t.
The last tie came at 7-7, and Coupeville was still hanging tough, down just 12-10 after Farris lashed a crosscourt kill.
But that was when Goldendale mounted its final surge, ripping off eight straight points to all but ice the win.
The Wolves never stepped back, holding off two match points, but the margin eventually proved to be too much to overcome, bringing an end to a season of success.
The loss marked the end of the run for seniors Peabody and Issabel Johnson, but with seven juniors and a sophomore filling out the rest of the roster, the future is bright.
Stellar team, stellar season. (Photo courtesy Cory Whitmore)
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