After a regular season in which the Bayfield volleyball team went 20-3 and swept through the Intermountain League with an undefeated record, the Wolverines were given a fifth-seed and will host the Region 5 tournament Saturday.
Joining Bayfield in the region are No. 20 Buena Vista and No. 32 Grand Valley.
The Wolverines will open play Saturday morning at 9 a.m. against Grand Valley. Buena Vista (12-10, 9-3 3A Tri-Peaks) and Grand Valley (14-9, 6-3 3A Western Slope) will play at 10:15 a.m., which will be followed by Bayfield (20-3, 10-0 IML) and Buena Vista. The winners of each region will advance to the Colorado High School Activities Association 3A State Volleyball Tournament.
The selection is puzzling, considering the fact that Bayfield hasn’t lost a match since Sept. 20, and hasn’t lost to a 3A team all season.
“Honestly, I thought what they did to us was brutal,” Bayfield head coach Terene Foutz said. “We were in the second spot for a few weeks and haven’t lost since then. We swept the No. 13 team in 5A over the weekend and lost ground because of it. We can’t control it though, and we’re going to use it as more motivation.”
That’s bad news for the opponents. Bayfield comes into the postseason on a hot streak with 15 consecutive wins including a dominant performance at the Palmer Ridge Tournament last weekend in which BHS beat 5A Coronado in straight sets to win the title for the first time in school history.
“We’re not talking about Denver at all,” Foutz said. “We’ve taken things one game at a time and we’ve got a bad taste in our mouths, so we’ll be ready come Saturday.”
Eaton (21-2, 10-0 3A Patriot) earned the top seed in 3A.
In 4A, Durango got the 24th seed and will have the tough task of winning a region hosted by the state’s top team Lewis-Palmer, which hasn’t lost a match this season.
The Demons (10-13, 4-4 5A/4A Southwestern League) will be able to scout the early game Saturday morning between Lewis-Palmer (23-0, 7-0 5A/4A Pikes Peak) and No. 36 The Classical Academy. Durango will have a chance to get their feet under them with The Classical Academy (14-9, 8-0 4A Colorado Springs Metro) at 11 a.m. before trying to take down the hosts and the state’s top team at 12:30 p.m.
jfries@durangoherald.com
