DENVER - Despite answering the bell after a grueling 30-28 loss in the first game, Bayfield couldn’t overcome injuries and a stellar University team.
No. 5 Bayfield opened the Colorado High School Activities Association Class 3A State Volleyball Tournament pool play against No. 4 University of Greeley. The first set went to University 30-28, but Bayfield came together around head coach Terene Foutz and vowed to keep playing their game and not worry about the result.
The result was a thrilling five-set match, but it didn’t go the way of the Wolverines in the end. University (21-6) won 30-28, 19-25, 16-25, 25-23, 15-11 to advance out of pool play and will face No. 1 Eaton in the semifinals.
For the Wolverines (22-4), the loss ended their state title hopes, and they will play a meaningless match Saturday morning against Pagosa Springs to close out the year.
“We knew it would come down to a fifth set one way or another,” BHS head coach Terene Foutz said. “That’s how the state championships work. It’s a matter of will in the end. Greeley stepped up and played their best game to get us.
Foutz’s team showed no quit the entire day. They overcame the loss of sophomore middle blocker Ashley Mottin, who rolled her ankle Thursday in Alamosa on the way to Denver. Senior Taylor Morris filled in brilliantly, and many girls had the best game of their career statistically.
“Sometimes in a match like that, you watch them grow up in front of your eyes inside of an hour when they battle that way,” Foutz said. “It’s who they are. Sometimes that journey as a coach is about seeing it.”
Maddi Foutz finished with 21 kills and 29 digs for BHS two days after signing with Colorado State University. Kylee McCoy, a sophomore, had 16 kills, and Emily Bauer had 25 digs. Courtney Bayles came through with 54 assists, and she distributed the ball well to all of the BHS attackers.
“Geez, we lost in five,” Maddi Foutz said. “The sets we lost were within two or three points. I couldn’t be happier with how we fought out there. It just didn’t go our way. Any other day, Bayfield would’ve taken it. Volleyball is a game that can change within inches.”
The first game was an absolute thriller. University claimed an early 4-1 lead, but Bayfield took its first lead at 5-4. With the two teams exchanging blows, the Wolverines had two game points but hit the ball long to prolong the match. University also had four chances to finish the set before finally claiming it 30-28 when another Bayfield hit went long. There was some dispute whether or not the ball was tipped, but the point stayed in favor of University.
BHS roared back in the second set behind big kills from McCoy and Maddi Foutz. Coach Foutz gave her daughter some last-minute instructions out of the side change, and Maddi Foutz got the message. She started swinging as hard as she could, recording several devastating kills and an ace along the way to a 25-19 win in Game 2.
The momentum carried over into the third set, which BHS claimed 25-16 behind all-around solid play.
BHS came out slow in the fourth and trailed 7-2 early. McCoy battled a lower back injury she sought out treatment for between rotations, but she stayed in the match as the Wolverines clawed back into the set. The Wolverines tied it at 16-all with a Pascale ace, and a Foutz kill tied it again at 17 before a hitting error by University gave BHS an 18-17 lead for its first lead of the set. As the team’s went back-and-forth, Sydney Gabbard and McCoy came up with kills that gave BHS brief lead. Trailing 21-20, Pascale got away with a tip over the net in which she touched the net to even the set again. A Pascale tip again tied the set at 23, but University answered with a tip of its own to go up 24-23, as coach Foutz called a timeout. University was able to close the set out with powerful play to force a decisive fifth set.
University stormed out to a 3-1 lead in the fifth, but BHS took a 6-4 lead that stretched to 8-5. University coach Lindsey Brown called a timeout, and her team answered with five consecutive points to go up 10-8. That’s all they needed despite sensational play late by Gabbard and company for Bayfield.
The 15-11 loss in the fifth set ended Bayfield’s title hopes, but the Wolverines will play No. 9 Pagosa Springs one final time Saturday morning in a meaningless match.
“We’re going to go out with a win,” coach Foutz told her team immediately after the loss. “I know it hurts now, but you played phenomenal volleyball. Let’s end with a win.”
It was a whirlwind 24 hours emotionally for BHS after losing Mottin. Coach Foutz said it took until the team took the floor Friday afternoon to get over the loss, but she saw a ready team when they did hit the floor. She credited Morris for stepping in and playing a strong game in a position she is not used to filling.
“I kept thinking about everything I had been through all season and in practices and how to apply it to the game,” Morris said. “I was trying to stay calm and mentally prepared.
“Bayfield really is a family, and it showed.”
With a win Saturday against Pagosa Springs, Maddi Foutz would finish her four-year varsity career with an 80-26 overall record.
“They’ve set the precedent,” coach Foutz said of the seniors. “They really helped the younger girls learn what it takes to compete at the highest level and how to respond under pressure. That’s part of growing up.”
Coach Foutz and Maddi will both move on next year. Terene is retiring to follow her daughter’s career at CSU. But a loaded team will return for whoever leads the Wolverines next year, and Maddi Foutz hopes to see them back in Denver.
“I would bet money on them winning the (Intermountain League), and it wouldn’t surprise me if they win regionals and make it back to state,” she said. “They have so many solid attackers, passing, defense and serving. With all that, they can get all the way back here again.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
