BAYFIELD –The Bayfield Wolverines won Tuesday for their new coach. It wasn’t longtime head coach Terene Foutz, but her newly appointed honorary coach Troy Zabel.
Zabel, the superintendent of Bayfield School District, is battling brain cancer, and he joined the Wolverines on the bench Tuesday in the “PINK DIGS” cancer awareness volleyball match against Intermountain League rival Alamosa.
After calming down an early adrenaline rush following a stirring pregame celebration in Zabel’s honor, the Wolverines settled in and took control in a 3-1 win.
“These are great kids, and it was a lot of fun to be out here with them,” Zabel said. “This community is phenomenal. Going through what I’m going through, I couldn’t pick a better place to live. I found home when I came here.”
BHS (14-3, 9-0 IML) overcame three service errors in the first set to win 25-20 behind big kills from Kylee McCoy, Jade Pascale and company. It was much of the same in Game 2, which the Wolverines won 25-18.
Sloppy play early in Game 3 helped the Mean Moose (13-7, 6-4 IML) to a 25-21 win in Game 3. The Wolverines trailed 7-2 early, 20-13 late an made it interesting at 23-21 behind powerful and cerebral play by Maddi Foutz, but the hole was too big to climb out from.
The third-set loss brought back memories of last season with BHS took a 2-0 lead on Alamosa but fell in five sets. The Wolverines led big in that third set last year before watching the match disappear. This year, the Wolverines wouldn’t let it happen again.
“We had that in the back of our heads the whole time,” said Maddi Foutz, daughter of the coach and Mike Foutz. “This year, it was not going to happen. This year we were going to keep fighting and fighting.”
The final exclamation point of the match came in Game 4, which the Wolverines won 25-18 after letting out a “Zabel Strong” roar breaking the team huddle between games. Pascale set the tone early in the fourth game with her team’s first two kills, and Maddi Foutz pounded home another. Still, Alamosa opened up a 7-4 lead thanks to a strong net game. That lead stretched to 11-7 before Maddi Foutz once again took control. Whether she was calmly tipping the ball where the Man Moose weren’t or hammering home kills in the face of the Alamosa block, she helped BHS regain the lead at 15-14, and McCoy broke a 16-all tie with a kill of her own. The Mean Moose evened up the set at 18-all, but another Maddi Foutz kill again gave the Wolverines an advantage. Bayfield’s lead stretched to 21-18 before Alamosa head coach Amber Ullery called a timeout. But, behind the serve of Miranda Talbot, the Wolverines wouldn’t relinquish the lead, as she recorded three aces to lead the Wolverines to a 25-18 win to secure the match.
“The last one, I told myself ‘don’t miss,’” Talbot said of her final ace to win the match. “Coach Foutz always teaches us how to play under pressure and be clutch under pressure.”
Maddi Foutz had a double-double with 15 kills and 14 digs, and Courtney Bayles had 40 assists. As a team, the Wolverines had 20 blocks, led by Ashley Mottin’s eight. Emily Bauer was also strong under pressure, as she was served to 30 times Tuesday.
“She took one for the team,” Coach Foutz said of Bauer.
The win gave BHS a league championship outright, though the Wolverines still have a match against Pagosa Springs at 6 p.m. Thursday. Thanks to an Alamosa upset of Pagosa Springs last weekend, th Wolverines wrapped up the title, though Coach Foutz’s team is looking at the bigger picture beyond league.
Part of that bigger picture Tuesday was playing for Zabel.
“That meant a lot to all of us,” said Talbot, daughter of Becky and Justin Talbot. “I know him personally, and it was a really big deal to play for him and something bigger than ourselves.”
When asked what lesson could be taken from Zabel, Maddi Foutz had a clear answer.
“If you’re gonna do something, you have to go all the way with it. You can’t go halfway,” she said.
jlivingston@durangoherald.com