BAYFIELD
The Wolverines didn’t take long to wipe the blood from their lips after Grand Valley’s first haymaker.
The Cardinals, the No. 22 seed, won the first set of a de facto Class 3A Region 3 title game 27-25 before the real Bayfield High School volleyball team showed up.
No. 3 BHS won the next three sets in dominating fashion to beat Grand Valley 3-1 (25-27, 25-14, 25-11, 25-15) to clinch a sixth consecutive trip to the state tournament Saturday at BHS.
Grand Valley (14-11) hung with the Wolverines through the first few points of the set before ripping off a six-point run to take a 16-10 lead.
“When you come in against a program that’s coached by an outstanding person in Terene (Foutz), who is a great coach, and you’ve got phenomenal athletes in Bayfield, you want to honor them with your best play,” Grand Valley head coach David Walck said. “We wanted it.”
BHS (22-3) battled back to tie the set at 21 and served with two set points, but two late attack errors and a Grand Valley tip gave the Cardinals the set.
“When they started coming after us harder than we thought, it was a little tougher for us,” said BHS senior Jessie Roukema, daughter of Jerrin and Shane Roukema. “We knew we had to pick up our game and work as a team.”
The Wolverines struggled at first in rotations where senior Kirstie Hillyer sat on the bench.
Grand Valley made a 6-0 run when all Hillyer could do was clap and support.
Hillyer, the Colorado State commitment, made sure to make an impact on the following sets. She finished with a match-high 15 kills and wanted all sets sent her way when BHS had its back to the wall.
“Thinking that this was the last home game I’ll ever play in this gym was definitely part of it,” said Hillyer, daughter of Laura and Rich Hillyer. “I wanted to be able to touch the ball as much as I could.”
She couldn’t do that from a courtside chair, and that’s where Maddi Foutz and Roukema stepped in. Roukema finished with a season-high 11 kills, and Foutz had 10 to give senior setter Suzie Rhodes a plethora of dangerous options at the net.
“We have made a commitment to ourselves and each other at the beginning of the season that every rotation is a strong rotation,” coach Foutz said. “Bayfield volleyball is a balanced attack volleyball. It makes a huge difference, because in that match we proved that anyone can step up and make a huge contribution.”
Grand Valley set up the “win and get to state” scenario by sweeping 34-seed Estes Park 3-0 (25-17, 25-11, 25-15), who BHS also swept 3-0 (25-10, 25-10, 25-15).
“We took care of things we know to take care of, and we played clean volleyball,” coach Foutz said of the win over Estes Park.
The Wolverines likely will be one of the top seeds in Class 3A when the state brackets are announced Monday. They don’t think they’ve hit their ceiling yet.
“We’re gonna take in as much as we can right now, and when it comes to Monday practice, get ready to get it all over again,” Hillyer said.
kgrabowski@durangoherald.com
