Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘Valen Trujillo’

Taking care of business!!

Posted in Volleyball, tagged , , , , , on October 30, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Sydney Autio rises up and lays down some heat Thursday night. (John Fisken photo)

   Sydney Autio rises up and lays down some heat Thursday night. (John Fisken photos)

Ally Roberts

The volleyball thinks it’s going to get away. Ally Roberts has other ideas.

It wasn’t the prettiest of wins, but it was a win, and that was all that really mattered.

Showcasing an ability to scramble and rally, the Coupeville High School volleyball squad roared from behind in two of three sets Thursday night.

By the time the Wolves were done, they had a 25-20, 25-13, 26-24 win over visiting Port Townsend and were primed to plunge into postseason waters.

The victory, the third in the last four matches for CHS, lifted it to 5-9 overall, 3-3 in 1A Olympic League play.

The Wolves, who finished in the cellar a season ago, tied Chimacum for second place this year.

Since Coupeville and the Cowboys finished with identical records and split their two matches, a coin flip will decide playoff seeding.

The winner of the flip will be the league’s #2 seed and will open the playoffs at home against the Nisqually League’s #3 team Thursday, Nov. 5.

The loser gets the #3 seed and a home playoff opener against Nisqually League #4 Tuesday, Nov. 3.

You can monitor the playoff bracket by popping over to: http://www.olympicleague.com/tournament.php?tournament_id=1690&sport=10

Whichever day the Wolves play, it will be their first home volleyball playoff match in a decade.

When Coupeville was part of the Cascade Conference, it always had to go to Lynden Christian and King’s for postseason action, regardless of record.

Last year, in the first go-round in the Olympic League, CHS failed to qualify for the playoffs.

That has changed this season, as a young squad (only two Wolves, McKenzie Bailey and Sydney Autio, were honored on Senior Night) has begun to jell as the season progresses.

Not that there was much jelling going on early in the first set Thursday.

A lack of communication allowed a number of balls to drop in uncontested as the Wolves fell behind big early, eventually trailing 13-5.

Enter the calming influence of junior libero Valen Trujillo, who settled in at the service stripe by immediately lashing an ace that skidded off the back-line.

Katrina McGranahan punched home a winner off of Trujillo’s next serve, ripping a bullet of a tip that left notches in three RedHawks as it whistled through a crowd.

With Port Townsend unable to get much going in way of returns, the Wolves ran off 10 straight points with Trujillo on serve.

On one play, McGranahan threw out an arm at the last second to save a rally, popping the ball up in the air as she sprawled to the ground.

Given new life, Coupeville took advantage, with Payton Aparicio rising up and sending a slicing kill shot to cap the rally.

Once they had the lead, the Wolves never relinquished it, bringing the first set to an end when Bailey jumped out of the joint to deliver a knee-buckling spike that scattered a pack of Port Townsend players.

The second set, by contrast, was all Coupeville all the time.

The Wolves got successful service runs from Maddy Hilkey, Hope Lodell, Lauren Rose and Tiffany Briscoe, a gorgeous tip for a winner from the ever-limber Ally Roberts and an emphatic spike from high-flying frosh Emma Smith.

Then, comfortably ahead, Coupeville hit the snooze button for a moment or two in the third set, before waking back up just in time to put an end to the evening.

CHS fell behind by as many as seven points and had seemingly given away the set, facing a string of set points down 24-20.

Showing no signs of panic, the Wolves scrambled for the match’s final six points, with a Briscoe smash off the last flake of paint on the back-line at 24-22 a particular highlight.

As line judge Steve Kiel thrust out both hands dramatically to call the shot a winner, a ripple of electricity shimmered through the large, enthusiastic Coupeville student section.

In answer, all the shoulders on the RedHawks players slumped as one, a perfect image for a team that knew its season had about three minutes left.

Turned out to be more like 80 seconds.

As the Wolves and their fans celebrated, the stats were added up, and Trujillo moved a step closer to a school record.

She recorded five digs, leaving her just five away from claiming the career mark.

Trujillo has 338 in her stellar career, while the school record of 342 is held by Jessica Riddle.

Rose was flawless at the service stripe (13 of 13), while Briscoe delivered seven kills with no hitting errors. Aparicio had four kills and three aces.

Read Full Post »

“The team is peaking at the right time!!”

Posted in Volleyball, tagged , , , , , , on October 26, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Katrina McGranahan (John Fisken photo)

   Katrina McGranahan, seen here in an earlier match, had two aces, four kills and three blocks Monday. (John Fisken photo)

Huge leaps and bounds.

A year ago, the Coupeville High School volleyball squad went 1-11 and failed to make the playoffs.

Jump forward to this season, and the Wolves are postseason bound and now capable of pushing the league champs hard.

Coupeville did lose Monday, falling 25-15, 25-20, 26-28, 25-21 at Klahowya, which allowed the Eagles to officially clinch the 1A Olympic League title.

But the Wolves scrapped like a wild beast and are gelling as the stakes get higher.

“At times, played some of the best volleyball all season tonight,” said CHS coach Breeanne Smedley. “We battled and fought hard for every point.”

That was most evident in the third set, when the Wolves somehow battled back from being down 24-17, holding off match point after match point, before eventually winning the set.

“Klahowya is a strong team all around, and I’m pleased with the way we were able to not only hang with them, but take a game off them for the first time since we entered into this league,” Smedley said. “Players stepped up in key times and were playing smart by adjusting to their offense.

“It’s a great place for us to be in as we take on Port Townsend and head to post-season play,” she added. “The team is peaking at the right time.”

Coupeville (2-3 in league play, 4-9 overall) hosts the Redhawks (0-5, 1-10) Thursday in their regular season finale (6:45 start, no JV), while Chimacum (3-2, 8-7) faces Klahowya (5-0, 8-6).

A Wolf win and a Chimacum loss and Coupeville would finish in a tie for second place.

Since they split their two matches with the Cowboys, we’d then have to wade in to tiebreaker territory to decide postseason seeding.

Both the #2 and #3 teams from the Olympic League host their playoff opener, but #3 would have to play an additional loser-out game.

To see the brackets, pop over to: http://www.olympicleague.com/tournament.php?tournament_id=1690&sport=10

Regardless of who or when they play, the Wolves are hoping for the kind of effort they got Monday, when nearly everyone on the roster filled up the stat sheet.

Tiffany Briscoe (four aces, six kills, 14 digs), Sydney Autio (three aces, 12 assists, nine digs), Hope Lodell (four aces, four kills, five digs) and Katrina McGranahan (two aces, four kills, three blocks) paced Coupeville.

Valen Trujillo went low for nine digs, Ally Roberts soared for five kills and Lauren Rose doled out 11 assists.

Meanwhile, super sophomore Payton Aparicio (12/12 serving, two aces, seven digs) and fab frosh Emma Smith (three kills, one block) helped control the flow of the match.

Read Full Post »

So close … so far!!

Posted in Volleyball, tagged , , , , on October 15, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Payton Aparicio (John Fisken photo)

Payton Aparicio was “on fire” Thursday night. (John Fisken photo)

Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.

So, despite playing some stellar volleyball Thursday night and coming agonizingly close, the Coupeville High School spikers sailed back home after absorbing a loss.

The defeat, coming in a tense 25-19, 25-23, 25-22 match at Chimacum, drops the Wolves to 2-8 on the season.

Worse, it puts them at 0-2 in 1A Olympic League play and stuck in the basement in a tie with Port Townsend.

Chimacum and Klahowya, the two teams that have beaten Coupeville so far — both in razor-thin results — sit atop the league at 2-0.

The Wolves still have time to make a statement in the playoff race, however.

The top three teams make the postseason, with all three of the Olympic League squads hosting their opening playoff match.

With both of their losses being exceptionally close, and with two of Coupeville’s four remaining matches being against Port Townsend, a school they whipped in an earlier “non-conference” match, prospects are still bright.

While her squad fell Thursday, Wolf coach Breanne Smedley came away pleased with a lot of what her young players accomplished.

“Our outsides and opposites did a great job tonight swinging and exploiting Chimacum’s defense,” she said. “It’s awesome to see the youth on our team stepping into roles and doing their jobs.

“It was a back and forth match the entire night, they battled for every point,” Smedley added. “The girls are hungry to play them at our house next week.”

Sophomore Payton Aparicio sparked the Wolves (“she was on fire!!!”) with a flawless 100% from the service stripe, including four aces.

She also collected a team-high seven kills and 10 digs.

Valen Trujillo went low for 15 digs, Sydney Autio (15) and Lauren Rose (12) combined for 27 assists, Kyla Briscoe hammered home six kills and Hope Lodell had a strong night with three aces and five kills.

Read Full Post »

Will the real Wolves please stand up?

Posted in Volleyball, tagged , , , , , on October 13, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Kyla Briscoe (John Fisken photo)

Kyla Briscoe was a hitting machine Tuesday night. (John Fisken photo)

This one counted.

After two “non-conference” matches against league foes (still confusing…), the Coupeville High School volleyball squad officially kicked off 1A Olympic League play Tuesday night.

They might want a do-over, however.

Despite noticeably improving as the match played out, the Wolves fell 25-17, 25-20, 27-25 to visiting Klahowya, dropping their record to 2-7 overall, 0-1 in league play.

Chimacum swept Port Townsend in straight sets in the other league opener Tuesday, so, for the moment, Coupeville is in the basement with the RedHawks.

That could change quickly, however, as the Wolves get a chance for redemption Thursday, when they pop over to the mainland to face Chimacum.

In one of those two “non-counting” match-ups against league foes, Coupeville savaged the Cowboys in the first two sets, before inexplicably falling apart and dropping the final three sets and the match.

The sometimes schizophrenic nature shown by a young Wolf team was on full display again Tuesday.

When they were clicking, they knocked the Eagles on their heels. And, when they weren’t, their mistakes hurt far more than anything the visitors did.

The opening set was a back-and-forth affair, at first at least.

Kyla Briscoe delivered a crushing second-chance spike for a winner and Katrina McGranahan was electric, both at the service stripe and laying down slicing spikes.

Riding a service winner from Sydney Autio, the Wolves closed within 13-12, only to fall back as quickly as they had risen up.

A string of returns that went wide sent Coupeville tumbling into a hole, as the Eagle lead ballooned out to 24-15.

With their backs to the wall, the Wolves made things interesting with back-to-back winners off of McKenzie Bailey’s fingertips, as the senior stalked the net, claiming it as her own.

But it wasn’t enough, as Klahowya closed out the set with a spike that looked like it was flying out the door, but dove and caught the back line at the very last second.

The second set was virtually a replay of the first one, but a step closer.

Payton Aparicio ripped a winner that lopped off an Eagle arm or two as it zipped through, Tiffany Briscoe brought the thunder, Kyla Briscoe was a hitting machine and McGranahan pulled off a nifty two-in-one play.

Bouncing around with mad glee, the Wolf sophomore went high for a potential winner on a spike, then, when denied, immediately sprang back skyward to stuff Klahowya’s return in the face of a surprised Eagle.

Deciding to shake things up a bit, the two teams broke from the pattern in what would turn out to be the final set.

Coupeville roared out to an 8-1 lead on hot serving from Autio and Aparicio, with McGranahan once again pulling off a perfectly-timed stuff at the net.

Klahowya was not to be denied, however, fighting back to reclaim the lead at 17-16.

From that point on, the Wolves would never again be in the lead, though they did force five ties and stave off two match points before succumbing.

The fight left in Coupeville was evident, as both times it fought off match point, it did so by outright winning the point and not merely popping the ball up and hoping the visitors would commit an error.

The first time Hope Lodell came zipping in from the side, appearing almost as if by magic at the last second, to catch the ball on the very tip of one finger and perfectly plop it in for a winner.

On the next, Ally Roberts got elastic, reaching behind her head while airborne to snag the ball and deliver a knee-quaking spike.

Lauren Rose paced the Wolves at the service stripe, converting 92% of her serves, while also doling out six assists.

Valen Trujillo (11 digs), McGranahan (four kills, three blocks) and Kyla Briscoe (three kills) also lodged their names on the stat sheet.

Read Full Post »

No-fly-zone for RedHawks!!

Posted in Volleyball, tagged , , , , , on October 8, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Wolf freshmen (l to r) Maddy Hilkey, Emma Smith and Ashley Menges bask in a win. (Jennifer Menges photos)

   Wolf freshmen (l to r) Maddy Hilkey, Emma Smith and Ashley Menges bask in a win. (Jennifer Menges photo)

Payton

   Valen Trujillo gets carried away by Payton Aparicio (left) and Hope Lodell. (Photo courtesy Trujillo)

No mercy. No hesitation.

Putting together its most complete match of the season, including fully applying the choke hold when the time was right, the Coupeville High School volleyball squad cruised to a win Thursday night.

The 25-12, 25-20, 25-9 dismantling of visiting Port Townsend was a textbook example of one team firmly stomping on another.

It lifted the Wolves to 2-6, gave them a huge jolt of confidence heading into conference play and was a complete reversal from their last home match, when they squandered a two-set lead.

This match, like that one against Chimacum, were “non-conference” matches against 1A Olympic League rivals, added at the last second to bulk up the schedule.

Neither the brutal five-set loss to the Cowboys or the three-set romp over the RedHawks will count in the battle for playoff berths.

Only the next six matches — two each against Klahowya, Chimacum and Port Townsend in a run that kicks off Oct. 13 — truly matter as the Wolves vie for a league crown and/or a trip to the postseason.

But, since four of those six matches are against teams they manhandled (they were crushing Chimacum before a late letdown), spirits have to be high.

Jumping right into things Thursday, as Port Townsend no longer fields a JV squad, the Wolves thundered out to a quick lead.

Katrina McGranahan provided the first of many emphatic winners, jolting the RedHawks with a laser-tipped spike that exploded and scorched shoelaces as it skidded off.

Building off the moment, Hope Lodell, AKA “The Surgeon,” immediately went to work carving up Port Townsend from the service stripe.

She dropped in an ace, then ripped off a serve that nicked a hunk of flesh out of a rival player’s arm as it ricocheted away.

Already jumpy, the RedHawks were back-pedaling, but not fast enough.

A brief rally went Coupeville’s way, as freshman Emma Smith climbed the stairway to heaven for a second-chance spike that went screaming down, deflating whatever brief spark of resistance was still lodged in the Redhawks hearts.

From there, the first set played out almost completely in favor of the Wolves, whether it was Payton Aparicio windmilling a spike for a winner or Lauren “Keebler Elf” Rose closing things out with five straight serves, none of which were returned back over the net.

The second set was more of the same, with Sydney Autio kicking things off with a long run at the service line and Smith and McGranahan being joined by McKenzie Bailey as a three-headed spiking machine.

At a crucial point, Port Townsend rallied to knot things up at 16, but The Surgeon immediately resurfaced, painting the corners like a pro.

Lodell zipped an ace down the left side that caught a fleck of paint on the line to stay in, then launched her next serve down the right side, with the result the same.

The match could have ended after two sets, with Bailey rising up and putting down the final winner like a beast, causing six sets of shoulders to slump on Port Townsend’s side of the net.

But, the rules require best three of five, so the two teams played on, though, this time, Coupeville never let its foot off the gas pedal.

A nice run on serve from Tiffany Briscoe, a beautiful tip from Kyla Briscoe that slid between two defenders, freezing them in place, and a whiplash-inducing spike off of Ally Robert’s fingertips set the stage, with Autio providing the final punctuation.

Up 22-7, the CHS senior unleashed a serve that not only hit for an ace, but caused two Port Townsend girls to run into each other while simultaneously whiffing on the ball.

RedHawks down in a heap, while the Wolves whooped it up as a team at mid-court — the perfect symbol for the night’s romp.

After the Chimacum collapse, Coupeville coach Breanne Smedley has seen her squad rise back up to fight exceptionally hard in a narrow road loss at Bellevue Christian, then cream Port Townsend.

“We’ve been focusing on working on mental toughness, practicing pressure situations, and it paid off,” she said. “We’re getting them to believe in themselves.”

With her team sailing along, Smedley gave all of her bench playing time, including freshmen Maddy Hilkey, Ashley Menges and Sarah Wright, who were swinging up from the JV team.

Bailey pounded out a team-high nine kills, libero Valen Trujillo compiled a 2.7 passing average (“Her best of the season!”) and Autio racked up nine aces and 11 assists.

McGranahan tossed in five kills, Trujillo had six digs and Lodell dropped in five service aces.

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »