Ryanne Knoblich flies in for a winner. (Jackie Saia photo)
It was a milestone night.
Coming off of a “really good practice,” the Coupeville High School varsity volleyball squad jelled and dominated Thursday, crushing visiting Darrington in straight sets.
The 25-7, 25-17, 25-17 victory lifts the Wolves to 7-1 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 9-4 overall, and hands coach Cory Whitmore his 75th win at the helm of the CHS program.
It also sets up a winner-take-all match for the regular season finale, which hits Tuesday, Oct. 25.
Coupeville hosts three-time defending state champ La Conner (7-0, 11-1), with the winner clinching the league title and the #1 seed from District 1 heading to the postseason.
The District 1/2 tourney goes down Nov. 2 in La Conner, with the NWL runner-up playing Auburn Adventist Academy in a loser-out match.
The victor in the opening rumble then plays the NWL champ in a loser-out, winner-to-state tilt.
Thursday’s match against Darrington, which fell on Wolf senior middle blocker Jill Prince’s birthday, allowed the CHS varsity spikers to cap a third-straight season in which they have never lost to a NWL team other than La Conner.
The Wolves were locked and loaded from the first point of the night, kicked off by a wicked Maddie Georges serve, and finished by a breathtaking slicer off the fingertips of a cartwheeling Lyla Stuurmans.
Georges staked Coupeville to a 6-0 lead, with Madison McMillan and Alita Blouin also peeling off strong runs at the service line in the opening frame.
Alita Blouin fires off a rocket. (Jackie Saia photo)
When Darrington did get the ball back in the air, the Wolf heavy hitters made short work of things, spraying kills and watching the Loggers run for safety.
Ryanne Knoblich, who finished with a team-high nine kills, was especially effective in the early stages, her blasts tearing holes in the hardwood.
The Loggers had pluck, however, and fought back to make their best stand in the second set.
Darrington led for much of that frame, dodging kills from Prince and Mia Farris to carry a 16-9 lead into a timeout.
That was where things changed, and changed big-time, with Coupeville closing the set on a 16-1 tear.
Georges was a spark, putting together a nine-point run on her serve while also flicking passes left, right, and every direction from her post as setter.
A ball went to Knoblich, who came flying in from the side to crunch things.
Then it was time for Farris to get dramatic, or Prince to paste the crud out of the ball, or McMillan to get medieval, or Stuurmans to launch lasers.
Pick your poison, and accept you’re about to die (metaphorically, at least) — that was the only option the Loggers had when the Wolves were in sync.
“They executed really, really well on defense,” Whitmore said. “I’m really proud of how, when we were down, we stuck to our game plan and didn’t look rattled.
“We were very disciplined on defense, and our communication never took a dip.”
Darrington remained ever plucky, and the third set was knotted at 10-10 before Coupeville decided to emphatically end things.
Georges, wrapping up a strong all-around evening of work in her next-to-last home match, fired off five straight points on her serve to push the Wolves ahead at 15-10, and the Loggers ability to resist finally faded for good.
There was still time for some “plays of the day” however, with Stuurmans tiptoeing down the sideline to flick a winner, and McMillan launching missiles from the other side of the floor.
Appropriately, the birthday girl got to put a cap on things, as Prince launched back-to-back kills right down the middle of the floor.
Thursday stats:
Alita Blouin — 10 digs, 2 aces
Mia Farris — 4 kills, 2 digs, 1 assist, 1 ace, 2 block assists
Maddie Georges — 4 digs, 23 assists, 11 aces
Taygin Jump — 4 digs
Ryanne Knoblich — 9 kills, 7 digs, 3 aces
Madison McMillan — 5 kills, 14 digs, 1 ace
Jill Prince — 3 kills, 1 block assist
Lyla Stuurmans — 4 kills, 1 ace, 3 block assists
