Up, down, up, down, up, down.
That was Durango’s roller-coaster October of volleyball before Tuesday night’s showdown in Bayfield.
Up, down, up, down … and, unfortunately, down.
That was Durango’s luck in suffering its fourth consecutive road loss during National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
The Demons led Bayfield 2-1 before dropping the fourth and fifth sets to lose to the Wolverines 3-2. Durango fell to 9-9 overall with the 25-23, 21-25, 25-18, 16-25 and 15-17 loss while Bayfield improved to 12-7 overall with the win.
Winners of four straight overall, the hosting Wolverines somehow staved off match point twice in the fifth set. DHS junior Hadyn Neiman had first brought it up at 14-13 with a scoring tip shot, and DHS had it again at 15-14 after senior Avery Rike ripped a kill off an assist provided by junior libero Mia Carozza. After a fierce kill by Wolverines junior Grace Barber, BHS secured victory via a Rike attack smacked long, and a DHS try off the net at the far antenna and out of bounds, untouched by seniors Tanna Owens and Kambrie Byrd.
“It was just so exciting,” Owens said. “I mean, we wanted to win our Senior Night but it’s even better that we pushed them all the way. We’ve been working really hard on being a unit, and I think that’s what makes our wins (feel) like wins.”
“They’re tough competition for us,” said Durango freshman Devyn Edwards. “It definitely showed through that they’re getting a lot better.”
Neiman said the Demons’ energy was off and they didn’t match the energy of Bayfield.
Early on, that wasn’t the case; after Bayfield overcame Durango’s quick 4-1 lead in the first set and powered ahead to 13-9, the guests never let BHS lead by more than two points the rest of the set and swiped a 1-0 lead in the match with a 4-0 burst capped by a lift violation against Byrd, a netted Knapp attack, and an unreturnable Carozza serve.
Bayfield blasted out to a 7-2 lead in the second set after Sutherlin pounded a kill immediately knocking Carozza off serve. DHS battled back to 14-12 with Neiman notching a conventional kill and Edwards splitting BHS back-row players Vivian Clance and Lauren Rich. Owens responded with a kill, and the Wolverines again started pulling away toward a wire-to-wire win – though DHS got as close as 23-21 before Byrd scored with a tip Durango setter Eva Stewart couldn’t reach and Sutherlin pushed an Owens running set into the nearside deep corner.
An Edwards kill tied the third set at 6-6 and Durango never again trailed en route to regaining a 2-1 advantage in the match after Stewart (39 assists) aced BHS’ Maeli Quintana and Byrd sailed an attack following another sterling Stewart serve.
Sutherlin began the fourth with a kill after Edwards served and helped by back-to-back Rich aces, BHS broke out to a 7-0 lead putting vital distance between their collective back and the proverbial wall. Rike got Demons on the scoreboard with a clever tip shot, but with Sutherlin, Knapp and junior Evelette Hollibaugh keeping pace in the power aspect with Rike (16 kills), Neiman (11) and Edwards (13), Bayfield maintained a crowd-energizing lead never dipping below three points.
The Wolverines iced the fourth set with kills by Byrd and Hollibaugh, then a Byrd/Knapp block.
“I think it was just us pursuing every ball,” said Owens. “Our defense was good and we continued to be aggressive at the net as well.”
“We started off in the dumps,” Neiman said of DHS’ fourth set slowdown. “Bayfield’s, like, a ‘mental’ game; we’ve got friends on the other side of the net, and I … think we expected a lot better. We came in not as prepared as we should have been.”
That hopefully won’t be an issue when Durango next sees action Friday with a chance to pull off a fortune-reversing upset of potent 4A Palisade, which improved to 15-2 overall and 9-0 in SWL action by dominating 4A Grand Junction on Tuesday.
“To win, we have to go full-throttle at our very best,” said Neiman, noting that Palisade is Durango’s own Senior Night (for Stewart, Rike, Tyler Trujillo and Stella James) opponent. “And that’s absolutely what we’ll do.”
DHS – and Bayfield – will then close out regular-season work by traveling to Colorado Springs for the two-day 3rd Annual Colorado Invitational (cohosted by Cheyenne Mountain and Discovery Canyon High Schools) beginning Nov. 1. Durango will open against 4A Longmont while BHS will meet 4A Mead.
