In the middle of the second game against Coupeville Thursday night, volleyball fans — all 130 of them — were treated to a rally that just didn’t end.
As the South Whidbey football team counted in unison in support on the sidelines, the girls kept the ball going over the net 12 times before Chelsea Backus iced the point with a backhanded kill. Backus had a busy night, racking up seven kills and 18 assists for the South Whidbey Falcons.
The Falcon volleyball team won both at Lakewood (25-9, 25-19, 25-22) on Tuesday and against the Wolves (25-16, 25-22, 25-23) this week, for six straight. South Whidbey is now 4-4 in the Cascade Conference.
“The girls are getting better,†said Coach Tim Durbin.
Noting their enthusiasm is way up over the last two games, he added, “I think it has something to do with the players on the floor. I’ve finally determined a set lineup based on a lot of previous games and practice.â€
Since few of the girls had any significant varsity time on the court last year, Durbin had few statistics to guide him. That has changed.
“I finally have enough data to let me assign positions so that we’re maximizing each girl’s skills. Seemed to work pretty well this week,†he said.
The future is looking good, as well, Durbin added.
“I expect to see continued improvement in our future games and I would like to see how we compete with the top teams in the league,†he said.
Currently, Kings is undefeated (8-0), followed by Archbishop Murphy (7-1), Cedarcrest (5-3) and South Whidbey (4-4).
At Lakewood, Caitilynn Larmore had 13 kills, Backus added four kills and 20 assists, Lindsey Newman contributed four kills and 12 digs and Courtney Dettrich had eight digs.
Against Coupeville, Larmore had seven kills and four digs, Backus added seven kills and 18 assists, Dettrich finished with seven digs and Natalie Martinovic notched four kills.
At 7 p.m. on Oct. 10, the Sultan Turks (0-8) visit and the Falcons plan on keeping their win streak alive.