The Coupeville High School tennis squad staked a claim as the team to beat in the Olympic League title chase with a 6-1 win over visiting Chimacum/Port Townsend Friday, April 17.

The Wolves also sparkled in the six-team North Kitsap Invitational Saturday, April 18, taking two of the four divisions.

With the win over the combined team of Chimacum and Port Townsend, Coupeville now has wins over the other two 1A schools in the Olympic League. The Wolves will meet Klayhowa and Chimacum/Port Townsend two more times this spring.

Klayhowa (0-1, 1-7) visits at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 21. Before facing the Eagles, Coupeville (2-0, 3-3) will host Lakewood (1-5) in a nonleague match Monday, April 20, at 3 p.m.

The win over Chimacum/Port Townsend was “pretty smooth sailing,” coach Ken Stange said. The Wolves “flat-out dominated” all but one match.

The Wolves swept the three singles matches: 1, Jacki Ginnings won 6-2, 6-3; 2, Valen Trujillo won 6-0, 6-2; and 3, Wynter Thorne won 6-2, 6-2.

Thorne’s win came in her season debut in singles.

Coupeville added three wins in doubles: 2, McKenzie Bailey/Jazmine Franklin won 6-3, 6-1; 3, Sydney Autio/Micky LeVine won 6-3, 6-4; and 4, Ana Luvera/Ivy Luvera won 6-1, 6-3.

Payton Aparicio and Sage Renninger fell 6-3, 6-4 in first doubles.

The Wolves tacked on three wins in JV matches: Bree Daigneault/McKenzie Meyer won 8-1; Haleigh Deasy/Hanna Seiffert won 8-6; and Ashley Smith/Kameryn St. Onge won 8-3.

At the North Kitsap tournament, Coupeville teammates squared off in two of the four title matches.

In second singles, Trujillo defeated Thorne 6-1, 6-2 for first place.

Trujillo won 6-0, 6-1 and 6-1, 6-0 to reach the finals.

Thorne opened with a tough 6-2, 3-6, 10-8 win, then won 6-3, 6-2 to qualify for the finals.

Bailey and Franklin topped Autio and LeVine 8-6 for the second doubles title. (They played a pro set because of ferry concerns.)

Bailey and Franklin started the tournament with a 6-4, 6-2 win, while Autio and LeVine received a bye. In the semis, Bailey and Franklin won 6-1, 6-0, and Autio and LeVine won 6-4, 6-2.

Ginnings, playing in first singles, fell 6-0, 6-0 to the eventual champion, then won two matches (6-4, 7-5 and 6-4, 6-2) to place fourth.

In first doubles, Aparicio and Renninger lost in the opening match 6-0, 6-3 to the duo that went on to finish second and then dropped a match 7-6(10-8), 6-1.

They trailed by a point in the match for fifth place when they had to leave to catch the ferry.

“It would be an understatement to say it was a good day,” Stange said. “It was a good day.”

(Payton Aparicio returns a shot in Friday’s match with Chimacum. Photo by John Fisken.)