Showing some mental and physical toughness, the Coupeville High School volleyball team overcame several setbacks to defeat visiting South Whidbey 3-1 Monday, Oct. 15.
“The match was a mental gut check and we came out on the other side,” coach Cory Whitmore said.
He noted that a number of his players were under the weather, adding, “A shout-out to Maya (Toomey-Stout); she’s so sick.”
The Wolves’ win broke a tie with the Falcons (4-3, 7-5) for second place in the North Sound Conference with three matches remaining.
Coupeville (5-2, 8-2) plays at Granite Falls (1-6, 3-8) at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 17, before closing out the regular season with home matches against King’s (7-0, 10-1) and Sultan (0-7, 3-8).
Coupeville stopped South Whidbey 25-22, 9-25, 25-18, 25-18.
The Wolves shook off a sluggish start in game one when they missed four of their first five serves. In all, they misfired on eight serves in the set but still came out on top.
Little went right for Coupeville in the second game when the Falcons cruised to the easy win.
The Wolves fell behind 5-1 in the third game, but instead of accepting a “here we go again attitude,” they battled back.
Down 12-10, Coupeville went on a 10-2 run to take control. A block and ace from Emma Smith, a kill from Toomey-Stout and a tip from Scout Smith fueled the surge.
The Wolves fell behind 3-1 in the fourth game and then zipped to an 18-10 lead to control the set and match.
Toomey-Stout finished with 10 kills, several from the back row, five digs, an ace and a block.
Emma Smith added seven kills, four blocks and two aces.
Chelsea Prescott tallied seven kills, five digs and an ace.
Ashley Menges recorded two aces and a block.
Scout Smith collected 24 assists, Emma Mathusek nine digs and Hannah Davison five kills.
Coupeville worn pink uniforms to honor their annual Dig for the Cure match, which raises awareness for breast cancer research.