A heart-thumping match turned into a heart-breaking loss.

The Coupeville High School volleyball team lost a 3-2 thriller to visiting Sultan Tuesday, Sept. 24.

The Turks squeezed out the win 19-25, 25-20, 25-23, 23-25, 18-16.

The outcome, however, isn’t set in stone. Coupeville coach Kirsty Croghan protested the match over the officials’ ruling on a disputed Sultan substitution with the final set knotted at 14-14.

Sultan was initially docked a point for a substitution error and then had it reinstated after much discussion.

Croghan said, “I am contacting the head officials to find out if it was handled correctly.”

Mistake or not, it was an exciting match.

The Wolves kept coming back but couldn’t snare the win.

They controlled the first set throughout, then found themselves in early holes in the next two.

Down by 10 in the second game, Coupeville rallied to take a lead, 17-16, before the Turks bounced back for the 25-20 win.

Coupeville wiped out a seven-point deficit in the third set, but Sultan hung on for the two-point win.

Facing elimination, the Wolves responded by gutting out a 25-23 win in game four without the services of Breeanna Messner who left the match with an illness.

Sultan staved off three match points and the dispute to prevail in the fifth game.

The Turks were led by Devyn Jordan (four aces, 12 kills),

Lalia Gonzalez (three 3 aces, 14 kills) and Kaelyn Cornell (34 assists).

Hailey Hammer powered the Coupeville offense with 15 kills. Madeline Strasburg added 11 and Megan Oakes five. Sydney Autio set them up with 42 assists.

Amanda Fabrizi hit all 17 of her serves for three aces, was a perfect 12-for-12 in serve receive and was 33-for-38 in defensive changes.

Sydney Aparicio added three aces on 15-of-16 serving and went 20-for-23 on defensive chances.

Kacie Kiel recorded three blocks and Allison Hanigan two.

Messner, though missing two games, had an impressive night: 13-for-13 in serving with one ace, 27-for-27 in serve receive and 17-for-20 on defense.

Croghan said, “It was a tough loss; however, I couldn’t be prouder of my girls. They really stepped up their game and played their hearts out. It truly was a team effort.”

The Wolves (0-4, 1-4) travel to Everett to meet Archbishop Murphy (1-2, 2-2) at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 26.