Wolves win two more; eye perfect league season / Volleyball

By Jim Waller • October 26, 2017 1:30 am

Receiving little resistance from Chimacum and Klahowya, the Coupeville High School volleyball team added two more wins this week.

The Wolves won 3-0 at Chimacum Tuesday, Oct. 24, and then returned home to blank Klahowya 3-0 Wednesday.

Coupeville, which already clinched its second consecutive Olympic League title, raised its conference record to 8-0 (10-3 overall). The Wolves can make it a perfect 9-0 when they travel to Port Townsend (2-5, 4-10) for the regular-season finale at 12:45 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 28.

Coupeville begins the postseason at 11 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 4, at Charles Wright Academy against a yet to be determined opponent.

Coupeville 3, Chimacum 0 (25-13, 25-12, 25-18)

“I thought we took care of business well, getting everyone involved in the process and working together,” coach Cory Whitmore said. “Our serve was strong — serving spots and moving the ball around.”

That serving attack was led by Payton Aparicio, who drilled a school-record 18 aces. Katrina McGranahan added five.

As for the attack around the net, Whitmore noted his team will need “to hit with more efficiency come district time,” but liked how his club “came at them from all angles when given the chance.”

McGranahan was efficient at the net, recording seven kills in only 11 chances. Aparicio chipped in with four kills, and Kyla Briscoe and Mikayla Elfrank each had three.

Lodell led the defense with eight digs, and Aparicio had six.

Coupeville 3, Klahowya 0 (25-15, 25-15, 25-19)

The Wolves celebrated Senior Night during their final home match, and the honorees led Coupeville to win over the second-place Eagles (4-4, 5-8).

Senior stats: Aparicio, six kills, 10 digs, five aces; Briscoe, six kills, seven digs; Elfrank, five kills; Lodell, eight digs; Allison Wenzel, seven digs; and McGranahan, three aces.

Senior setter Lauren Rose guided the offense (assist totals were not available).

Juniors Emma Smith (five kills) and Ashley Menges (three aces) were also among the stat leaders.

“I was really happy with our performance tonight, getting contributions offensively and defensively from everyone,” Whitmore said. “We had a great balance on our attack with all hitters attacking the ball in positive percentages. We had our defense picking up the Klahowya attack, and then our setters did a strong job of turning that into consistent offense.

“Our seniors were fantastic and our younger players played to honor the seniors — we had a fantastic Senior Night and I could not be more proud of all this senior group has accomplished.”