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Wolverines roll the dice for a W

Bayfield High School volleyball head coach Terene Foutz decided to gamble at the start of the Wolverines’ match with Durango High School on Thursday in Durango.

She sent her team out without a libero, making every player eligible to attack the ball in every position.

“We didn’t even practice it until (Wednesday); it was sort of an experiment,” Foutz said. “We just made a conscious decision to go offensively minded and see if we could hold. (Thursday night), the gamble paid off.”

BHS sophomore Maddi Foutz, the coach’s daughter who played libero for the Wolverines (1-1) last season, responded to her new role with 15 kills in a 3-2 (13-25, 25-18, 25-17, 25-27, 15-10) road win.

“She was definitely fired up. She plays with a lot of these girls during club, so being able to beat them is that much better,” said Kirstie Hillyer, daughter of Laura and Rich Hillyer.

Maddi Foutz had three kills in the first game and four in the second, while Hillyer, who led BHS in kills last season, found her feet.

Hillyer finished with a game-high 21 kills and three blocks.

Twenty of those kills came in the final four games, and BHS won three of the four.

Durango junior outside hitter Maddie Robertson dropped four aces during the first game to turn a 5-4 deficit into an 8-5 Demons’ lead they didn’t relinquish.

“They really took it to us in the serving, and I don’t think my girls were prepared for the toughness of Durango’s serve,” coach Foutz said.

BHS won the second game but lost one of their players after Emily Bauer left the match with concussion-like symptoms after hitting her head on the court.

The Wolverines won that set and the next one behind Foutz and Hillyer before DHS evened the match at two games each with a gutty 27-25 showing in the fourth.

The Demons led 12-6, but BHS clawed back to a tie at 16 each and eventually took the lead 22-21 on a Foutz kill.

DHS won the game after Hillyer spiked long on a back-row attack for the error.

The Wolverines trailed 2-0 very early in the fifth game but ripped off five consecutive points to take a 5-2 lead.

No lead was safe in Thursday’s match, though, and the Demons battled back to a 10-9 deficit.

BHS closed out the match with a 5-1 run to pick up its first win of the season.

“It was intense. Every single call, you just wanted it to be yours, even though, you kind of knew it should have been theirs,” said Maddi Foutz, daughter of Mike and Terene Foutz. “It’s like all heart. You can’t play without heart.”

The Wolverines bounced back from a five-game loss to Piedra Vista on Tuesday and will continue their run of games against larger schools when Montezuma-Cortez High School visits Class 3A BHS at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.

“They seem to claw their way out of fear,” coach Foutz said of her team battling back. “They like to battle. They’re OK with it.”

kgrabowski@durangoherald.com

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