Saturday’s regional couldn’t have gone better for the Bayfield High School volleyball team as the Wolverines swept St. Mary’s Academy and Peak to Peak to win the 3A Region 6 regional and move on to state for the second consecutive year.
The Wolverines’ serving was on point all day, but especially against Peak to Peak in the final match of the regional on Saturday afternoon. Bayfield caused countless errors and gave itself easy kills against the Pumas to control long stretches of all three sets.
Peak to Peak made a comeback in Set 3 with its season on the line, but Bayfield’s senior-laden team stayed composed and allowed Peak to Peak to make the final hitting error, resulting in a dog pile, pictures with the regional trophy and a trip to Denver for state for Bayfield.
“It’s been a hard fought year,” Bayfield head coach Terene Foutz said. “It’s been a really good year. It’s been a year where we fought back from injuries and we needed everybody on the team. We saw a lot of subbing at the end of match and we really count on everybody to be ready to go in the depth of the team to make things happen.”
No. 6 seed Bayfield improved to 18-7 overall with its win over No. 19 Peak to Peak; the Pumas finished their season 14-11 overall.
The Wolverines edged ahead 9-6 early in Set 1. Peak to Peak had a few hitting errors and Bayfield continued to serve strongly like it did in its first match against St. Mary’s. The Wolverines attacked from the left side early with senior Evelette Hollibaugh. The powerful outside hitter got the crowd on their feet with a thunderous kill.
Bayfield extended its advantage to 14-6 with more strong serving and a nice dump shot from senior setter Avery Shipman. If Bayfield wasn’t getting the ace, Peak to Peak was scrambling, barely getting the ball over the net and setting the Wolverines up for an easy kill. A fantastic Evelette Hollibaugh ace gave Bayfield a 17-8 lead.
Peak to Peak continued to struggle to handle Bayfield’s serve and the Pumas looked disjointed on offense, struggling with accuracy, leading to errors. It was only fitting that Bayfield closed out the first set with an ace from senior libero Lauren Rich and the Wolverines won 25-13.
“That's been a big confidence from the very beginning because we've seen that since last year,” Foutz said about the team’s serving. “But we're just more confident from the serving line now. We know we have a good serving team and we count on it. Kids like that Maeli Quintana, she hits the mark I’m calling; she is precision targeting and that's her kill.”
The Pumas took an early 8-4 lead in Set 2. Bayfield wasn’t having as much success on the serve, Peak to Peak was hustling all over the court to make some diving digs and Bayfield was struggling to keep the ball in bounds.
Bayfield came back and retook the lead, but Peak to Peak stayed composed and had some precise hitting with a back-corner kill and an ace for a 14-11 lead, causing Foutz to call a timeout.
“Be purposeful with the ball instead of just getting rid of a ball and sort of creating our own unforced errors,” Foutz said in the timeout. “It was just some unnecessary ball-handling errors in my mind. Keep it crisp and be intentional. We had a game plan against this team. Let's start running it.”
Foutz’s timeout definitely helped as the Wolverines went on a 5-1 run to retake the lead. Peak to Peak stayed in the set, though, with some clever hitting at the net by Katie Day and Clara Wright that tied the set at 21.
The Hollibaugh sisters had the response with back-to-back kills to give the Wolverines some breathing room. Back-to-back hitting errors by Peak to Peak gave Bayfield the 25-21 Set 2 win.
Set 3 started fantastically for Bayfield as it led 6-1. The Wolverines were feasting on the posts and were blocking well when needed.
Peak to Peak responded with some quality kills, but Bayfield was also struggling with hitting errors and its lead was cut to 11-10. The Wolverines were struggling at the posts and were called for multiple violations.
Like it had all day, Bayfield responded. Evelette Hollibaugh had back-to-back kills, including a clever push shot that barely got over the net and Barber had a tip shot for the 20-15 Bayfield lead.
The Pumas then said, ‘Hold my Gatorade,’ as they rattled off six consecutive points and cut the lead to one. Peak to Peak used its size at the net for a block to tie the set at 24.
Sophomore Kieley White Thunder made one of the biggest plays of the day for Bayfield with a kill from the right side for the 25-24 lead. A hitting error from Peak to Peak on that same match ended the match and all doubt about Bayfield getting back to state.
The Wolverines will find out their playoff matchup on Monday. Bayfield looks to win a state playoff game after going 0-2 at state last season.
“I've been here a while now and what you're seeing is third-year varsity kids who've seen it before … they know now what the show is and they want another piece of that,” Foutz said. “We made some mistakes at state last year. We were a little trepid when we started. We should have beat Lamar last year. So this year, it's a different feel.”
bkelly@durangoherald.com
