To be fair, even if her last serve in the fourth game of Tuesday’s match had landed in and yielded a point, Annie O’Donnell would have needed four more just like it in order to simply bring Pagosa Springs level at 24-all.
But the serve sailed long, giving Bayfield a match-tying 25-19 win, and the senior’s frustration was evident. Not so much about the serve itself, but about the fact that the enemy was still alive after being virtually buried early.
PSHS wasn’t facing a garden-variety scrub, however; this was Intermountain League volleyball. Across the net stood archrival Bayfield, becoming more and more emboldened with any and every success on foreign flooring.
But after seeing an 11-8 lead in Game 4 disappear when BHS went on an Avery Shipman-led 8-0 run – highlighted by senior Allia Connell’s emphatic scoring stuff of an overpass, followed by a sharp kill shot of her own the very next point – the Pirates suddenly rediscovered most of their initial form in the tiebreaking fifth game.
Striking first and never allowing the Wolverines to do more than tie – at 1-1 via a Katie Killinen kill, and again at 4-4 via a PSHS net violation – Pagosa Springs built up a 9-5 lead, thanks to a back-row kill by junior Aspen Pitcher and an ace by senior libero Lauren Monterroso, and never let it come under serious threat the rest of the way.
Junior Sofia Sottek fired an ace increasing PSHS’ lead to 13-7. Bayfield head coach Terene Foutz took a timeout which paid dividends in the form of three straight points. But BHS junior Kambrie Byrd served long, putting the Pirates at match point, 14-10. Sophomore Lexi Campbell gave a point back with a serve out of bounds, but Pagosa Springs secured a wild 25-13, 25-23, 22-25, 19-25, 15-11 victory when Bayfield junior setter Tanna Owens was called for a centerline violation while attempting to keep the ball in play and prolong the penultimate rally.
“We are cool with the loss because we love how they played back and just kept coming,” Foutz said. “It was a great battle and I think their mental-toughness growth, that we’re really emphasizing, is starting to be realized in matches now. They got better as the match went on! So yeah, I’m really happy right now.”
“We were able to take advantage of a number of Bayfield’s errors, but we’d worked really hard on blocking and I think our block communication, block assignments … was just a whole lot better,” said Pagosa Springs head coach Katie Lorenzen. “Our defense has been great all season, but our blocking picked up this match and definitely helped.”
Doing next to no wrong in the opening game, PSHS (4-5 overall, 2-1 IML) grew a 3-0 advantage into an insurmountable 12-3 lead, pressing Foutz into using a timeout after Wolverine errors gifted the Pirates four unanswered points. O’Donnell, however, restarted the action with an ace, and though her next serve went into the strings, Pagosa Springs came right back with a Pitcher kill plus a Pitcher ace. Operating almost on autopilot, PSHS reached game point at 24-13 via an ace by senior Kynslie Limebrook, then went up 1-0 in the contest via a Limebrook ace that diving Bayfield libero Lauren Rich couldn’t reach.
“She’s been a really strong server for us all season,” Lorenzen said, “but even if she doesn’t get an ace she usually disrupts the offense on the other side. We really like it when we have her back there serving.”
“We were serving really aggressively, so that helped us as we came out tough.”
Game 2 was much more back-and-forth; the teams were tied 15 times, including at 23-23 after a cross-court kill by junior Audrey Knapp plus a Killinen ace of Monterroso. The Pirates, however, caught a big break when BHS junior Tatum Meyer tapped a ball off the near-side antenna and out of play, and then claimed the game when a perfect Limebrook serve floated over and led to a botched pass surrendering the point.
Sottek began Game 3 on serve, and PSHS went up 1-0 when Byrd netted an attack. Sophomore Grace Barber, however, got the Wolverines (3-8, 1-1 IML) back on track with a kill, setting in motion another roller-coaster session. Pagosa Springs managed to build a 6-3 lead, but a kill by sophomore Evelette Hollibaugh put BHS on course to retie at 7-7 via a Shipman ace.
Neither side would again lead by three points, until a Limebrook kill put the Pirates up 22-19 … and nearly put the Wolverines down for the count. That is, until they remembered just who they were facing.
Starting with a four-touch infraction against PSHS, followed by a Knapp scoring block, Bayfield stormed back into contention with a closing sequence of a Knapp overpass kill (motivating Lorenzen to use a timeout), a Knapp rejection of Pitcher and then a Killinen disposal of a PSHS overpass.
Finally with time to reload after their sixth match in seven days, the Wolverines will next see action on Sept. 22 when Centauri (5-5, 0-1) comes to town. Alamosa (6-4, 2-0) will visit the following afternoon.
“I think the experience really helped us compete tonight – we could have folded,” Foutz said. “I think one month ago this team would have said, ‘Oh, no!’ and we’d have been very upset after that first game. But they’re growing, becoming competitively strong, and … the game will come as we choose to compete. I like the direction we’re going; we’re cool with this journey.”
“Kudos to Pagosa for the win,” she added. “But I like our chances next time, back in Bayfield; this team’s all about it.”
