On serve at game point in Game 3, it was clear Tuesday night that - as compared to a disastrous third game inside the opposition's house two weeks before - Bayfield had changed something for the better versus Piedra Vista.
"We got some advice from some other coaches that had seen them, just getting their input on what they thought their weak spots were," said sophomore Jade Pascale. "So we definitely decided to go hard on them on serve; that was our biggest thing this week during practice.serve, and serve-receive."
"It was our first 'hard' match so we didn't have the energy to conquer that," sophomore setter Sydney Gabbard had said after BHS' three-game loss Sept. 8 down in Farmington, inside Jerry Conner Fieldhouse.
Unquestionably emanating from Bayfield's white-clad student section, neck-deep in Homecoming Week 2015 spirit on "White-Out Night," energy was flowing from start to finish for the home side. But unfortunately for the Wolverines, the Panthers weren't about to experiment with their backs to BHS Gymnasium's wall.
ble to get three Courtney Moore putaways to stave off BHS' bids at beginning a fourth verse, PVHS put the issue to rest when Gabbard and fellow soph setter Courtney Bayles each misplaced a pass to a hitter during the event's penultimate two exchanges, allowing the visitors to finish a 25-12, 25-18, 28-26 victory and season sweep of their interstate, Four Corners-region rivals.
"We did better than the first time we played them, definitely," said sophomore Kylee McCoy. "We came to win tonight, but we just couldn't quite make it."
For yet again this season, a disjointed beginning left the locals with a rugged uphill battle. Showing many of the same shaky traits exhibited down in New Mexico, Bayfield (4-6, 0-0 3A Intermountain) allowed Piedra Vista (7-2, 0-0 NMAA District 1-5A) to race out to a 5-0 lead in Game 1, which rapidly increased to 12-5.
Head coach Terene Foutz later burned her second timeout in the stanza trailing 19-11, but with the freshman Moore fueling the foe it was to no avail and PV took the game when junior Bebe Jaquez stuffed down a Wolverine over-pass at the net.
A 4-0 burst beginning Game 2 gave rise to Bayfield's hopes, but the guests were up to the challenge and equalized at 5-5 on a Moore over-pass spike. HS fought back and soon went up 10-8 on a Pascale service ace, but the Panthers again clawed back out front and Foutz alertly called time when PV's pad grew to 14-11.
Behind the serving of junior setter Kamryn Gordon, PV was able to expand their advantage to 18-12 and then evenly swap points until a Wolverine blocking error gave Piedra Vista a crucial 2-0 lead in the match.
Aptly dubbed "slow-cookers" in Foutz's post-match comments, Bayfield finally cranked up the heat in Game 3, riding junior Maddi Foutz's serving from a 5-5 tie into an 11-9 lead. PVHS senior Autumn Begay's serving, however, was the answer and the Panthers soon regained a brief 13-12 upper hand.
But after Foutz smashed down a kill to re-tie at 15, the two crews went at it as in numerous encounters past, and PV skipper Ron Becker actually burned a timeout after Jaquez netted a tip, knotting the score at 20-20.
"I think it just, like, kicked in that this is Homecoming and we need to pick it up, win this game," said McCoy. "Game Three was definitely our best game for sure; towards the end we fought our hearts out."
Junior libero Emily Bauer, already with multiple floor-cleaning digs during the frame, fired an ace that later brought Bayfield back to 23-23 after Piedra Vista had the Wolverines on the proverbial ropes two points earlier, but BHS couldn't close the deal as PV relied upon their six-footer in the middle.
"They have bigger players than us, but that shouldn't be the deciding factor of who wins or loses," McCoy (five kills) said. "We were fighting really hard.as a team, but we're still trying to learn how to play together."
"We.definitely attacked the ball more," said Pascale, who matched Maddi Foutz's six kills for the team high. "We didn't play like 'little girls,' like we kind of did at PV, so that was a big thing for us too."
Foutz led BHS with 10 digs, and equaled Bauer's three aces.
Up next the Wolverines begin IML play tomorrow at Monte Vista.
"We need to go strong," Pascale said. "We need to be consistently hard on everyone we go against."
