Bayfield High School volleyball head coach Terene Foutz knew her team would have some nerves as the Wolverines hosted their first regional since 2021, but the nerves didn’t stop Bayfield from sweeping St. Mary’s Academy to start the regional on Saturday morning.
The Wolverines had their moments where mistakes cost them the lead, but Bayfield had more composure and less errors than St. Mary’s. Bayfield’s balanced offensive attack, led by senior setter Avery Shipman and senior middle hitter Grace Barber, gave the Wolverine fans in the stands plenty to cheer about in Match 1 of the regional.
“There were a little bit of jitters to start,” Bayfield head coach Terene Foutz said. “It's been a minute since Bayfield hosted something like this at home. That was a good calm-down match for us to settle in and say, ‘Okay, we have a purpose and we're going to play point-to-point.’ Our serve game really helped us in that one, knocked the ball off net and the girls did a great job with their serve targeting.”
Bayfield, the No. 6 seed in 3A and host of the Region 6 regional, improved to 17-7 overall with the 25-10, 25-18, 25-15 win. No. 31 St. Mary’s dropped to 10-13 overall.
The Bobcats got off to a dominant start and took Set 1, 25-10 after an attack by St. Mary’s went long. St. Mary’s struggled to set up good attacks and Bayfield dominated at the net. The Wolverines set up their hitters for success with good sets to both sides.
“We won that first set on first-contact volleyball,” Foutz said. “We controlled serve-receive really well. As our hitters were looking to settle in a little bit, we were a little error prone. But I think the passing in the back row kind of calmed us down a little bit and then the ball was there for them.”
St. Mary’s responded in Set 2 and led 7-2 early. The Wildcats were doing a much better job of blocking at the net and Bayfield struggled with some attack errors and looked a bit unsettled defensively.
Bayfield made its way back into the set. Barber had a few good plays around the net and the Wolverines showed more composure, allowing St. Mary’s to be the one that made mistakes. Shipman did a great job setting and Bayfield did a good job serving. A kill by freshman Londyn Hollibaugh tied the set at 11.
After some back-and-forth play in the middle of the set, the Wolverines finally separated at the end of the set. Shipman showed her versatility with a kill and back-to-back aces for a 20-17 lead. She set up junior Kambria Bailey for a couple of kills on the right side, including the set-winning kill for the 25-18 come-from-behind Set 2 victory.
The Wolverines would’ve been down early in Set 3 if it weren’t for their effort on defense. Bayfield had multiple diving digs that kept points alive and allowed for better attacking opportunities later in the point. Clance had a great cross-court kill to put the Wolverines up 8-5. Bayfield expanded that lead to 12-6 with some strong serving and blocking at the net by Barber.
“Grace is our spark,” Foutz said about Barber. “Her personality is even bigger than that so when she dials in, the team seems to do that around her. She brings everybody in, and she's an excitable kid. If you have a middle like her who can play six rotations, that's special for us.”
Bayfield’s lead grew to 20-8 with some strong serving by Clance and Barber. St. Mary’s went on a 7-2 run after that, but Barber came through again with a final kill from the middle for the 25-15 Set 3 win.
The Wolverines will face No. 19 Peak to Peak later Saturday afternoon for a chance to go to state for the second consecutive year after the Peak to Peak vs. St. Mary’s match ends.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
