Trailing 12-10 in Tuesday night's tie-breaking fifth game, Durango Head Coach Colleen Vogt would have loved to have taken a timeout to regroup and reassure her team.
And with DHS still behind at 13-11 in the dash to 15, she'd really have loved to briefly pause play.
But she couldn't, and Bayfield-destined to win the game, and thus the match-had, fittingly, a senior to thank most on Senior Night inside BHS Gymnasium.
Not surprisingly, that senior's pre-match comments, read aloud by the p.a. announcer while introducing her and her parents, explained perfectly her thinking:
"I have learned that good is not good enough, when greatness is expected."
Having already tromped into the stands earlier in the match to produce with one amazing save, Maddi Foutz managed to trump it with a headlong dive yielding not only the battle's most improbable, incredible dig, but a vital 10-7 lead. Her save shot back over the net baffled the visitors' back row, which expected it to float barely out of bounds. The girls were helpless to play it properly when they realized it wouldn't.
"She will dive and she will get it," said BHS junior Jade Pascale, stressing almost every syllable. "She's got this crazy ability to get places on the court no one else could get in, and we love her for that!"
"Right there, what you saw was passion; we fought so hard, and there was no way we were going to let them take it from us," Foutz said, flashing a bruised and, appropriately, purple-tinted right elbow.
"It's such a momentum-builder," Pascale noted. "You get this huge dig in a super-tight match, and you're like, 'Oh my gosh, we're going to win this!'"
Fearing exactly that, seeing and hearing the 'Rowdy Crowd' and the rest of the Wolverine faithful going berserk, Vogt had no choice but to burn her second stoppage-only three exchanges after using her first-in hopes of calming the storm.
The 4A Demons managed to pull even at 10-10, clearly a feat in itself, but Class 3A's fourth-ranked crew would not be denied. Foutz's attempt at ending the match was dug up, but Pascale concluded the clash with a smash seconds later-giving Bayfield a 25-13, 20-25, 20-25, 25-19, 15-11 win and sweep of the squads' 2016 home-and-home matches.
"Every time we went into a huddle: 'Who wants it more?' That's the question you always have to ask yourself," said Pascale. "Who's going to put the most out there? What are you willing to give? And we just gave more than they did tonight. We definitely had to fight really hard for this."
Early on, however, the match was shaping up to be a knockout, with BHS riding strong serving by junior Sydney Gabbard, Foutz and senior Miranda Talbot to a quick 11-6 advantage before junior Kylee McCoy and senior Taylor Morris polished off the early 12-point trouncing with a tandem block.
"We've finally learned how to push on the block, and just drive their kills down every time they tried to make an attempt," McCoy stated. "It felt really good because we finally got that."
Game 2 picked up where Game 1 had left off, with the home side zipping out to leads of 3-0 and 4-1 before Durango-inspired by junior Lana Razma on the outside, senior Josie Surmeier in the middle, and sophomore Faith Dowling practically anywhere despite a stress fracture in one foot-came alive. That evened the match when Pascale hit long on game point.
Game 3 was similarly close, with neither side able to sit upon more than a three-point cushion until BHS Coach Terene Foutz had to spend both her timeouts within a three-point span and her side on the wrong side of a 20-16 deficit. Seeking to spoil the night, DHS went up 2-1 in the match via a kill by junior Ally Snow and then a Surmeier/Celia Hale stuff of Pascale.
"Tonight their defense was outstanding, so I give them props," Maddi Foutz said. "And their passes were really great, so Durango has improved. But you know what? So did we - in other ways. Our offense has gotten so much better the past couple weeks and it was special to see it unfold tonight."
Game 4 was basically as back-and-forth as the previous two until the Wolverines (16-3, 10-0 Intermountain) pulled away to tie the match, two games apiece, with a 6-0 burst finished by a failed DHS free ball.
"When we had an overpass and they'd hit it back down at us, they'd do the same thing and we slammed it back down on them," McCoy said. "We used that to fuel our momentum to pull through."
Starting with Surmeier's successful joust against BHS' Courtney Bayles, the Demons (9-10, 4-4 4A/5A Southwestern) would lead three times in Game 5, but only for a combined three points. Bayfield's three leads obviously lasted longer, though no one-until the end-grew larger than three on Foutz's show-stopper.
"We were doing many great things, and that was awesome to be proud of what we just came off the court doing," said Surmeier. "I wish it was a win, but we put up a good fight."
"It's your whole life that you wait for a game like this, and so you're not thinking 'Don't make a mistake, don't make a mistake!'" Foutz said. "You're thinking, 'I'm going to put this freaking ball down their throats! I'm going to hit it as hard as I can!'"
Bayles finished with 34 assists in the victory as Foutz downed 14 kills and Pascale 13. Foutz also totaled 26 digs and senior libero Emily Bauer impressed with 34 essential ups. Bayfield also totaled 17 blocks in defending against the Durango hitters.
"We really focused on all their hitters' tendencies all week," Pascale said. "We know they have a really good lefty-Lana-and we know she hits hard. Get a block in front as much as we can! So we worked our defense around the block."
"'Senior Night,' I guess.it's a totally different aspect," Foutz said. "We knew that was going to be really emotional; we were all really excited for that. But at the same time, when it was done it was 'GAME TIME!'"
Wrapping up the regular season, the IML champions will travel again out to Monument to compete at tomorrow's Palmer Ridge Invitational.
CHSAANOW.COM CLASS 3A VOLLEYBALL POLL (issued 10/24): 1.Eaton, 2.Greeley University, 3.Colorado Springs Christian, 4.BAYFIELD, 5.Gilcrest Valley, 6.Granby Middle Park, 7.Loveland Resurrection Christian, 8.Colorado Springs St. Mary's, 9.Sterling, 10.Delta.
