Annabelle Cundiff was lethal at the service stripe Thursday against Concrete. (Leann Leavitt photo)
They finished the night on a high point. Or a lot of high points.
While the Coupeville High School JV volleyball squad dropped the first two sets Thursday to visiting Concrete by a 25-17, 25-19 score, the Wolves roared back to claim set #3 impressively, winning 25-7.
The strong finish bodes well for a young squad which is now 1-3 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 1-6 overall.
Alita Blouin’s band of scrappy spikers gets a chance to get a lot of court time this weekend, with the JV slated to travel to Bellingham Saturday for a tourney hosted by Meridian.
The Wolves will enter play there coming off of one of their best sets of the season, as everything, and everyone, clicked in the finale against Concrete.
Cassandra Powers kicked things off with a five-point run on her serve, with Addison Jacobson, Emma Leavitt, and Annabelle Cundiff all popping aces as well as CHS led from start to finish.
The first two sets were a bit bumpier, though Coupeville put together positive plays in both.
Leavitt and Powers delivered a strong one-two combo, smashing a variety of winners at the net, but the Wolves had trouble putting together any scoring streaks in the opening frame.
Playing from behind, CHS got a sweet save on a runaway ball from never-say-die Olivia Martin and a crowd-pleasing tip winner off the fingers of Scarlett Spencer, but ultimately couldn’t reel the Lions in.
The second set was much more of a back-and-forth affair, at least in the beginning, with seven ties culminating in a 10-10 stalemate.
Then a Concrete server got hot, reeling off six consecutive points and the visitors threatened to pull away.
Coupeville put a stop to that, however, getting back to within 18-16 after Leavitt sparked a mini comeback by cranking a spike winner which slid the length of the net, then flipped over and dropped between Lion defenders.
Martin crushed an ace to get CHS within two, but the offense sputtered out after that, allowing Concrete to seal the win.
While the third set was for practice and didn’t change who won or lost, Coupeville’s ability to bounce back in a matter of minutes is something Blouin and her proteges can build upon.
The match also gave the Wolves a chance to give floor time to all 10 girls on the roster, with Sabrina Judnich, Hannah Roberts, Amira Anunciado, and Emily Rains also involved in the action.
Thursday stats:
Annabelle Cundiff — 2 aces
Addison Jacobson — 2 digs, 1 assist
Emma Leavitt — 8 kills, 3 digs, 3 assists, 2 aces
Olivia Martin — 16 digs, 2 aces
Cassandra Powers — 6 kills, 4 digs, 8 assists, 7 aces
Scarlett Spencer — 3 digs
