Bayfield High School volleyball head coach Terene Foutz thought the Wolverines would get a tough seed at state after winning the regional tournament.
She couldn’t have imagined it would be this imposing.
No. 8 BHS (20-5) will open its fifth consecutive trip to the state volleyball tournament at 8 a.m. Friday in the Denver Coliseum against No. 12 Lamar, then will face top-seeded Eaton in its second pool-play match Saturday.
“The team is actually quite excited. We are coming into this tournament with Eaton has everything to lose,” Foutz said Thursday. “The pressure is on Eaton.”
Eaton (23-1) boasts an 18-match winning streak dating back to Sept. 7 and one of the most dangerous hitters in the state in outside hitter Kourtney Lockey, who leads Class 3A with 4.7 kills per set and ranks fifth in the state with a .422 hitting percentage.
“She absolutely will get her shots; she’s going to get her kills,” Foutz said. “You can’t say ‘we’re going to stop these attacks completely,’ but we can slow them down with offensive serving and defensive discipline.”
The Wolverines won’t be able to key in on Lockey, either, as Eaton touts three other players with more than 100 kills on the season.
But BHS will have to deal with Lamar (22-3) before it can even think about Eaton.
Lamar has won 13 of its last 14 matches, with the one loss in that stretch coming against undefeated Manitou Springs on a neutral floor.
Balance defines the Lamar attack, as five players have triple-digit kills this season, and four of those five topped the 120-kill mark.
“We aren’t coming against these teams this weekend with one or two horses pulling the cart,” Foutz said. “We expect the ball to be attacked from various angles.”
The Wolverines, on the other hand, have three players with more than 100 kills, led by Kirstie Hillyer’s 325.
BHS should get a boost with the return of outside hitter Jessie Roukema, who has missed the last 13 games because of injury.
“She is 100 percent,” Foutz said of the junior. “Jessie adds a solid net game; she puts up a solid block and brings a fast attack game to our team.”
The Wolverines last advanced out of pool play in 2011 and will need a balanced attack and sound defense to repeat that feat.
The winners of the four pools will advance to the semifinals, which will start at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Denver Coliseum.
“Our season has been hard-fought; we’re not a flashy team,” Foutz said. “It’s going to take everyone for us to play well. (A total team effort) is something we’ve come to rely on.”
kgrabowski@durangoherald.com
