Anti-climactically awarded the match via a net violation, the Bayfield celebration Tuesday night probably wasn't as explosive as it should have been after a five-game thriller against 4A Durango. The BHS "Rowdy Crowd" was packed with football players still fired up from last Friday's epic 20-13 win over the same opposing school.
Happy to more or less erase lingering memories of a week-old home loss to 6A Farmington Piedra Vista, the Wolverines knew their priority was to prevail by any means.
"Absolutely," junior libero Tymbree Florian said, following a 21-25, 25-27, 25-16, 25-16, 15-13 victory. "We talked about that, and that's what really motivated us...that PV game. We didn't want to lose another on our home court, so that was our biggest motivation."
"Oh yeah," concurred senior middle Kylee McCoy. "PV.was a big wake-up call for us, I think, because we genuinely overlooked that team. And.tonight after that second set, we were determined to not lose again."
"We were kind of bummed it ended on that, but a point's a point," said Florian, referring to the inter-league showdown's abrupt conclusion. "We'll take it, but we would have liked to put it down on the last point, for sure!"
Florian, fittingly, scored probably the most unusual of points in BHS-DHS 2017, Part I, when she served an ace off a Demon's shoulder-the back side of it, after it had been turned, perhaps to check strategy with her nearest back-row teammate, while the ball was already in flight.
Durango junior middle Taylor Wolf then hit long, giving Bayfield a promising 14-10 lead in Game 2 after two confident Wolf spikes and one by senior outside hitter Ally Snow had secured Game 1.
But whereas the home team had climbed out of a 10-6 hole to briefly go up 18-17 in that session via a kill by senior Sydney Gabbard (10 kills, 11 digs), the away team gradually scraped back into contention and eventually tied the second stanza at 22-all before winning with a putaway by senior Lana Razma.
Against a lesser crew, that could have been all she wrote, but the Wolverines (8-3, 4-0 3A Intermountain) knew it was now-or-never time.
"I think in 1 and 2 we were playing hard, but we weren't playing to win," said McCoy (14 kills, 4 total blocks. "Like, we went out there and we just hadn't woke up yet!"
"Our net game was something we definitely kind of lacked the first two," senior middle Ashley Mottin (6 kills, 6 total blocks) added. "And then we went into the huddle and we were like, 'We need to put up a block!'"
The Wolverines began literally to blunt the mounting Snow-Wolf-Razma pressure, and figuratively to remind the party-crashing guests of who really owned the house.
A Gabbard kill in Game 3 forced DHS head coach Colleen Vogt into taking a timeout, trailing 11-7, but Bayfield, playing defense in just about every conventional or chaotic form, pulled away to win by an impressive nine points after Mottin rejected a Durango smash.
And the roll gained speed immediately in Game 4; BHS raced out to a 6-1 lead, and Vogt again paused play after Snow sent a shot long and McCoy mashed a kill off libero Millie O'Ketter. Nearly clicking in all aspects, Bayfield entered the home stretch with a 20-14 advantage-via a clever McCoy roll shot, placed just in front of Demon Lily Chick-and evened the match when O'Ketter netted a serve.
"I think a point's a point, and it was definitely super exciting to win," said Mottin. "We just wanted to run the fastest offense we could, so that we could slow Durango down."
"Our front line showed up," Florian said. "It would have been so much harder without them."
As expected, both sides came out energized for the tiebreaking Game 5, but BHS achieved the first surge towards victory when Gabbard scored with a block, and Razma hit long-giving the Wolverines a 7-4 lead. DHS regrouped, and soon went up 10-9 with Wolf cracking an unplayable attack, pressing Bayfield's Danica Frost into quickly calling timeout.
Vogt would do so even faster after Mottin dropped in a tip to put seventh-ranked BHS up 13-12, but fate would favor the white jerseys on 'White-out Night.'
"It was all about staying calm; (Frost) didn't want us to freak out, no matter what the score shows," said Florian, who logged 10 digs. "We knew from the start that Durango was going to be hitting hard at us, and we were prepared for that. She said we have the best lineup we could possibly have for the situation."
"Whether you tip, you hit, get an overpass.a point's a point," McCoy quipped. "And we celebrate each like it's the winning point; that's just Bayfield, I guess!"
As senior Courtney Bayles (3 kills, 3 total blocks) distributed 44 assists, sophomore Mavis Edwards pounded down an impressive 12 kills at a Bayfield-best .632 rate and also came up with eight digs.
"It definitely means a lot, on our home court with our seniors, our last year," said Mottin. "This is our court and we're not going to let anyone win on our court but us."
Set to begin 4A/5A Southwestern League action this weekend, Durango-which will welcome Bayfield into the DemonDome on Oct. 24-dropped to 6-3 overall.
BHS, meanwhile, will next resume IML action Saturday in La Jara with a triangular against Monte Vista and hosting Centauri.
Prior to hosting 2A Sargent last night, Centauri stood a surprising 9-0 overall and 4-0 in league. At the other end of the record spectrum, MVHS stood 2-9, 0-5 before visiting 1A Creede on Friday.
