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Posts Tagged ‘volleyball’

Wolf alumni fill up college spiker stat sheets

Posted in Volleyball, Wolves in college, tagged , , , , , on October 9, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Lyla Stuurmans (left) and Mia Farris continue to excel at the next level. (Sarah Stuurmans photo)

They can dig it.

Coupeville grads Lyla Stuurmans and Mia Farris were both in action on volleyball courts Friday night, playing key roles for their college spiker teams.

Stuurmans racked up six kills, six digs, and an assist to help Skagit Valley College get to 11-8 on the season with a four-set win over Olympic.

Meanwhile, Farris put up 12 digs, an assist, and a service ace as Whatcom College lost a narrow match to Bellevue to fall to 7-13.

The duo, who were both CHS Athlete of the Year winners during their Cow Town days, are currently college sophomores.

For the year, Stuurmans has 111 kills, eight assists, 17 service aces, 164 digs, seven solo blocks, 25 block assists, and 147.5 points.

Farris has tallied 36 kills, 27 assists, 39 aces, 265 digs, two solo blocks, a block assist, and 77.5 points.

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Long night, narrow loss

Posted in Volleyball, tagged , , , , on October 8, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Arianna Cunningham gets low to keep a play alive. (Julie Wheat photo)

Long matches are a fickle mistress.

Coming off a five-set win over La Conner, the Coupeville High School varsity volleyball squad almost made it two epic victories in a row before falling just short at Darrington Thursday night.

The 23-25, 25-22, 25-15, 18-25, 15-9 win keeps the Loggers undefeated in Northwest 2B/1B League play at 3-0, trailing just Mount Vernon Christian (5-0) in the standings.

With the loss, Coupeville drops to 4-2 in conference action, 4-5 overall, and sits in third place in the seven-team league.

Up next is another road trip, this one to Orcas Island October 14, before Scout Smith’s spikers finish the regular season with four of five at home.

Thursday’s royal rumble was a match full of streaks, with the final one proving fatal for the Wolves.

Having rallied to capture the fourth set, Coupeville jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead in the final frame thanks to some pinpoint serving from Haylee Armstrong.

It didn’t hold up, however, as Darrington closed the match on a 15-5 run.

The Wolves kept things close, forcing a tie at 7-7 thanks to a Tenley Stuurmans kill that blew up the backline followed by an ace off the fingertips of Willow Leedy-Bonifas.

Capri Anter and Co. are a scrappy bunch. (Jacob Lujan photo)

But the Loggers proved golden after that, slipping away at the end as Coupeville had a run of shots which narrowly missed staying inside the court.

The teams opened the match with a ferocious first set which saw 11 ties and multiple lead changes, with neither squad able to pull away until Arianna Cunningham lashed a knee-buckling spike winner to bust a 23-23 tie.

Capri Anter and Cunningham led the way at the service line in the first set, while Stuurmans was an equal opportunity mashing machine, scalding every Logger player at one point or another with a series of wicked kills and elegant tips.

With the first set in hand, Coupeville was on the cusp of going up two sets to none, leading 21-15, only to go cold as the Loggers closed the frame on a torrid 10-1 run.

Before then, the Wolves got another batch of Stuurmans winners, along with Isa Mc Fetridge peppering Darrington with hard-to-hit serves.

Seemingly stunned a bit by losing its momentum, Coupeville struggled through much of the third set.

Down 10-4 early, the Wolves did rally to force a brief tie at 11-11, with Lexis Drake and Stuurmans playing strongly at the net, but Darrington once again proved to be the streak queens, using a 14-4 tear to push CHS to the brink.

Coupeville had an answer, fighting back from an early deficit in set #4 to keep the night hopping.

Drake pounded a kill off a Logger arm to stake the Wolves to their first lead at 7-6, the margin soared to 14-9 as Cunningham floated in mid-air and flicked a winner between bodies, and then … another Darrington streak.

Six straight points from the Loggers pushed them ahead 15-14, but Coupeville wasn’t having it.

Haylee Armstrong (1) and Kennedy O’Neill power up. (Jacob Lujan photo)

Kennedy O’Neill shoved the Wolves back in front, slicing off a winner from the side, before Leedy-Bonifas turned a 19-18 lead into a 25-18 set win with an impressive run of serves.

That set the stage for a grand finale, which, on this night, went to the team not wearing red and black.

 

Thursday stats:

Zariyah Allen — 3 digs, 1 assist, 1 block assist
Capri Anter — 12 digs, 1 ace
Haylee Armstrong — 12 digs, 25 assists, 6 aces
Arianna Cunningham — 12 kills, 17 digs, 1 assist
Lexis Drake — 3 kills, 1 assist, 1 block assist
Willow Leedy-Bonifas — 14 digs, 1 assist, 6 aces
Isa Mc Fetridge — 2 digs
Kennedy O’Neill — 4 kills, 3 digs
Tenley Stuurmans — 15 kills, 24 digs, 1 assist, 2 block assists, 3 aces

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Rains, Leavitt serve up big win

Posted in Volleyball, tagged , , , , , on October 8, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Emily Rains plots your destruction. (Julie Wheat photos)

Ace, ace, in your face.

Wolf heavy hitters Emma Leavitt and Emily Rains were on point Thursday in Darrington, each firing off 10 unhittable serves, and a whole lot of other ones where the return ended up in the bleachers.

Powered by the wham-bam sisters, and a team-wide 26 aces, the Coupeville High School JV volleyball squad cruised to its third win in its last four matches.

Sweeping the host Loggers off the floor to a 25-18, 25-6, 25-12 tune, Alita Blouin’s spikers get to 3-3 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 3-6 overall.

The afternoon began with a crack of thunder, as Leavitt savaged Darrington with a serve that screamed past the defenders, and ended on another point-winning laser off the arm of Olivia Martin.

In between those titanic blows the Wolves offered their rivals very few opportunities to stage long rallies.

Coupeville was in control from start to finish, jumping out to staggering leads in the first two sets.

Riding a run of 10 straight points on her serve from Rains, the Wolves built a 13-1 margin in the opening frame, gave some points back, then closed things out with another run of strong serves from the Wolf freshman.

Rains also had a beautiful tip winner to blunt a Darrington rally, while Addison Jacobson whacked a spike off the backline to keep everyone honest.

Annabelle Cundiff brings the thunder and the lightning.

If set #1 was a bit of a romp, most of the time at least, set #2 was a full-on bushwacking.

Leavitt torched the Loggers for eight points at the service stripe, before Rains added another run of six straight winners as Coupeville went up 16-1.

This time the Wolves gave very little back, with Martin, Scarlett Spencer, and Jacobson joining the duo in controlling things on their serve.

While the match was already decided in favor of the visitors, the Wolves continued to carve up the Loggers in a third set played to get everyone valuable floor time.

Spencer came flying in from the side to deliver a pair of tip winners, while Annabelle Cundiff inherited the role of assassin, putting together a six-point run at the service stripe to bust things open.

Sabrina Judnich chipped in with hustle plays, Amira Anunciado and Hannah Roberts provided strong vocal support to their teammates, and Martin closed things out with a final burst of liquid fire, sending the Loggers back to their rooms without supper or a win.

 

Thursday stats:

Annabelle Cundiff — 3 aces
Addison Jacobson — 3 kills
Emma Leavitt — 1 dig, 5 assists, 10 aces
Olivia Martin — 1 kill, 4 digs, 2 aces
Emily Rains — 2 kills, 1 dig, 10 aces
Scarlett Spencer — 2 kills, 1 dig, 1 ace

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My kingdom for a title!

Posted in history, tagged , , , , on October 8, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Lyla Stuurmans (4) and Madison McMillan (11) sparked CHS volleyball to a 4th place finish at the 2024 state tourney. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

It is the most elusive thing in Cow Town sports history — a team state title.

At least at the high school level.

Now, the 2010 Central Whidbey Little League baseball team beat everyone to claim the top prize.

And, technically, the 2006 Coupeville High School cheer squad has a state crown to its credit — though cheer is classified as an activity and not a sport by the Washington State Interscholastic Activities Association.

The Wolves have two individual state titles in cross country thanks to Natasha Bamberger and Tyler King, and a whole bunch of track and field titles, both for individuals and a boys’ 4 x 400 relay team.

But as we sit here in 2026, CHS has yet to join its neighbors, Oak Harbor (football) or South Whidbey (cross country, tennis) in winning the ultimate team prize.

Over the years, 43 Wolf teams have advanced to state, capturing 26 wins (21 from female athletes) and bringing home hardware several times.

Just not that trophy that says STATE CHAMPS.

Yet.

The hunt continues, with the first team to achieve the feat guaranteed to be immortalized forever.

Scott Hilborn pitched Wolf baseball to a big win over Toledo at the 2023 state tourney. (Photo courtesy Wendi Hilborn)

As we sit here on October 7, 2026, here’s what has gone down in the past, with a couple of small caveats.

In this exercise, tennis, golf, wrestling, swim, cross country, and track are MIA because athletes advance to state as individuals.

You can win a TEAM state title in those sports with just an athlete or two — it happens frequently in tennis for example — but you don’t need the entire team to qualify to get to the big dance in the first place.

Which is the case for basketball, soccer, softball, volleyball, baseball, and football.

Out of those six sports, the only Wolf program still seeking its first trip to state is girls’ soccer. Sort of.

Back in 1994, long before CHS launched its own team, Coupeville girls could play with Oak Harbor.

That year, the coach (Carol Bartelson), the top scorer (Marnie Bartelson), and the all-star goalie (Amanda Allmer) were all Wolves and led the team to a 4th place finish in the 4A classification.

But they did it wearing Oak Harbor’s purple and gold, with Wildcats stitched on the jerseys, and the WIAA lists the achievement on the page for OHHS and not CHS.

With that in mind, here’s the state tourney history for CHS team sports (as documented by the aforementioned WIAA):

 

Baseball:

First trip: 1973
Most-recent trip: 2023
Total trips: 10
State tourney wins: 3
Schools beaten: Kittitas, White Swan, Toledo
Best finish: 3rd in 1987

 

Boys Basketball:

First trip: 1970
Most-recent trip: 2024
Total trips: 7
State tourney wins: 2
Schools beaten: Columbia (Burbank), Montesano
Best finish: No trophies

 

Boys Soccer:

First trip: 2009
Most-recent trip: 2010
Total trips: 2
State tourney wins: None
Schools beaten: None
Best finish: No trophies

 

Football:

First trip: 1974
Most-recent trip: 2022
Total trips: 5
State tourney wins: None
Schools beaten: None
Best finish: No trophies

 

Girls Basketball:

First trip: 1998
Most-recent trip: 2016
Total trips: 7
State tourney wins: 7
Schools beaten: Freeman, Onalaska, Overlake, Winlock, River View, Cascade Christian, Zillah
Best finish: 6th in 2002

 

Softball:

First trip: 2002
Most-recent trip: 2026
Total trips: 5
State tourney wins: 8
Schools beaten: Cle Elum, Royal, Okanogan, Napavine, Deer Park, Colfax, Raymond-South Bend, Friday Harbor
Best finish: 3rd in 2002

 

Volleyball:

First trip: 2001
Most-recent trip: 2024
Total trips: 7
State tourney wins: 6
Schools beaten: King’s, Freeman, Toutle Lake, Zillah, Tonasket, Mossyrock
Best finish: 4th in 2024

Softball has the most state tourney wins of any CHS program. (Jackie Saia photo)

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Wolf grads reunite as (friendly) rivals

Posted in Volleyball, Wolves in college, tagged , , , , , on October 7, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Lyla Stuurmans (left) and Mia Farris, lifelong friends and volleyball wizards. (Sarah Stuurmans photo)

The Wolves were out in full force at Whatcom College Wednesday night.

Two Coupeville grads were on the volleyball court, and another two were working the sidelines as cheerleaders, as a full-scale CHS reunion went down during a college athletic event.

On the floor, Mia Farris and the host Orcas squared off with Lyla Stuurmans and her Skagit Valley College teammates, with Whatcom pulling out a tense five-set win on Dig Pink Night.

The match went back and forth, before eventually finishing 25-20, 18-25, 28-26, 20-25, 15-13 in favor of Whatcom, a razor-thin margin in which the host team nipped the visitors by a single point, 108-107, if you count it up that way.

The win lifts the Orcas to 8-12 on the season, while SVC drops to 10-8.

While the former Wolf teammates, now college sophomores, played for the third time at the next level (Farris leads 2-1 with one more battle set for October 30 in Mount Vernon), CHS grads Pamela Morrell and Ember Light were also on the scene.

The duo is part of a relaunched Whatcom cheer squad which provided plenty of spirit for fans in the stands.

Ember Light gets a better view of the action. (Photo courtesy Jennifer Morrell)

Stuurmans and Farris, both named as CHS Athlete of the Year winners during their stellar Cow Town high school days, are both filling up the stat sheet this season.

The former collected seven kills, 10 digs, an assist, two solo blocks, and two service aces Wednesday, while the latter had a match-high 29 digs, four assists, and two aces.

For the year, Stuurmans has 105 kills, seven assists, 17 service aces, 158 digs, seven solo blocks, 25 block assists, and 141.5 points.

Farris, who has played multiple positions for the Orcas, has 36 kills, 26 assists, 38 aces, 253 digs, two solo blocks, a block assist, and 76.5 points.

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