Perhaps there was a black jersey in front of her.
Maybe even with some Farmington Kelly green mixed in.
Someone defending the net may have even been wearing neon yellow, cerulean blue or … well, any color.
Kambrie Byrd wasn’t exactly sure then, couldn’t recall afterward, and at the time didn’t care; all she saw was red as she whipped a wicked kill to sew up Bayfield’s 25-21, 25-15, 25-16 homecoming week win on Thursday.
“I wasn’t even thinking; not one thought was (going) through my head,” said the sophomore reserve, whose two touches after a late entry into the match produced as many points. “Kill the ball – that’s what I wanted to do … so I just looked for a hole.”
“It’s really good just to know that our hitters are thinking that they can kill it,” sophomore setter Tanna Owens said, “but they’re also looking for an easy hole where the defenders aren’t.”
Although Byrd represented well for senior sister Kenasea, who was out of town, in shutting down the show inside BHS Gymnasium, there was no doubting the identity of the showstopper:
Attacking with a kill-at-will approach, sophomore Christiana Sutherlin was practically indefensible as she helped the Wolverines (5-8 overall, 2-2 3A Intermountain) break out to double-digit leads early in Games 2 and 3. Senior libero Myrah Abdallah-Boehm’s vicious serving was a key element of offensive support in each – consecutive aces helped Bayfield go up 6-0 in Game 2. She’d later hold serve for much of BHS’ 9-2 start to Game 3, pressing Scorpion head coach Lars Baker into calling a timeout which, if taken during Game 1, might have paid dividends.
“It’s all about putting pressure on Bayfield, and we did that in the first set up to 20-20. Actually, we had a lead at 20-18, then they came back and tied it at 20,” Baker said. “And then we did our usual thing; we crawled inside ourselves, realized it was a tight match and let Bayfield switch the pressure onto us.”
“We worked very hard just to keep up a high energy and to pursue every ball,” said Owens, “and we were super-excited. I think that in the first (game) we just had a lot of nerves … and once we let go of them we played really well.”
As Sutherlin heated up, seemingly hitting every vacant piece of floor, her teammates joined in. Senior Kody Rey zipped over an unplayable serve tying Game 1 at 20-all. After Sutherlin downed a kill, Rey followed with two more service gems in succession. Farmington (7-6, 0-0 NMAA Dist. 2-5A) managed a point, but BHS took a 1-0 lead in the match after senior Kaydence Hunter and junior Allia Connell combined for a scoring block, and Sutherlin followed with a perfect tip into open space.
Back-to-back Rey put-aways helped increase Bayfield’s Game 2 lead to 10-2. An Abdallah-Boehm ace would increase the lead to 19-8 before the Scorpions – led by seniors Ali Gillen, Skye Teasyatwho and Madyson Jordan plus sophomores Linsey Yazzie and Jayla Yoder – pieced together a promising 6-1 run. Bayfield boss Terene Foutz took a timeout, and her squad responded by going on a game-ending 5-1 run capped by a Connell over-pass kill and a FHS lift violation.
“We really feed off our energy – just like in Alamosa; we were really hyper too – so I think that really helps,” Byrd said. “And it’s really fun. We just keep putting in the work every day and go hard, hard, hard!”
Game 3 was almost over before anyone realized. Rey brought up match point, 24-13, with an ace after Kambrie Byrd’s first scoring shot. Farmington stayed alive three times, but time ultimately was not their ally.
The Wolverines will next resume league work on Tuesday at Montezuma-Cortez. M-CHS stood 4-7 overall, 0-4 IML before hosting 1A Monticello, Utah, on Friday.
Sutherlin finished with 14 kills and two errors in 21 attempts, a fierce .571 rate. Rey finished with seven kills at .182, and senior K’Lee Stuffelbeam-Jolly hit .364 with five kills. Owens and senior Bailey Martinez each recorded 13 set assists. Abdallah-Boehm was credited with five aces.
Defensively, Abdallah-Boehm logged 19 digs and Rey racked up 11. Stuffelbeam-Jolly totaled four (1 solo, 3 assisted) blocks.
Gillen and Yazzie each totaled a FHS-leading five kills and Jordan put down four as Yoder totaled 18 assists. Yoder also came up with eight digs, while senior libero Chloee Dewees ended up with six.
