Wolves look to prolong season | Volleyball

If the Coupeville High School volleyball team wants to continue its season into the playoffs, it will need to defeat visiting Port Townsend at 5 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 30, in the last regular season match of the season.

If the Coupeville High School volleyball team wants to continue its season into the playoffs, it will need to defeat visiting Port Townsend at 5 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 30, in the last regular season match of the season.

PT edged the Wolves in a 3-2 thriller Tuesday, Oct. 28, setting up the must-win match for Coupeville.

Three of the four Olympic League 1A schools move on to the district tournament.

Klahowya (6-0, 14-0) and Chimacum (2-4, 4-9) have completed league play, with the Eagles locking up the title and the top seed into the postseason.

If Coupeville (1-4, 1-10) defeats Port Townsend (2-3, 8-5) Thursday, it will create a three-way tie for second.

Coupeville, Port Townsend and Chimacum will then meet in a mini-tournament, according to Coupeville coach Breanne Smedley, to determine which school is eliminated and the seeding of the other two.

Smedley said after Tuesday’s match that the site and time of the mini-tournament had not been determined.

The district tournament, which features three teams each from the Olympic and Nisqually leagues, begins Thursday, Nov. 6.

After the single-elimination first round at district, four teams will scrap in a double-elimination format for two state berths.

As of Thursday, Oct. 30, Bellevue Christian led the Nisqually League with a 6-0 record, followed by Cascade Christian (4-3) and Seattle Christian (3-2).

In the first round of district, the second-place teams from each league will host the third-place teams from the other.

Coupeville’s loss at Port Townsend was a roller coaster for the Wolves.

The Redhawks drilled the Wolves 25-5 in the first set, then Coupeville recovered to win two heart-stoppers, 33-31 and 26-24.

Port Townsend took its turn winning a close game, securing the fourth set 25-23; then it won the match 15-11.

“A tough loss tonight,” Smedley said. “They played their hearts out (with the exception of game one) and can’t wait to take PT on again on Thursday.

“We did a good job of reducing our errors and playing to our potential tonight.

“We had a hard time holding on to some of our early leads in the fourth a fifth games, leaving us with too much catch up to do towards the end.”

Valen Trujillo hit all 23 of her serves, producing three aces. She also had 38 digs.

Madeline Strasburg added eight kills, 23 digs and five aces; Hailey Hammer had 15 kills and six digs; Kacie Kiel had 10 kills and 25 digs; Lauren Rose had 37 assists; and Katrina McGranahan had three blocks.

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