DENVER

Five players on the Bayfield High School volleyball roster that will return next season made their first trip to the state tournament this year.

Two others played on the Denver Coliseum floor for the second time in their first two years on the team.

Though the Wolverines are losing a talented senior group that never lost a conference match in 32 attempts, BHS, which finished its sixth consecutive trip to the CHSAA Class 3A Girls Volleyball State Championships on Saturday with a 1-1 record, won’t lack for experience in 2015.

BHS sophomores Emily Bauer and Maddi Foutz will return for their junior seasons, and four freshmen will become sophomores.

“The returning student-athletes are incredibly excited about the opportunities in front of them. It’s untapped territory,” BHS head coach Terene Foutz said. “We’ll be senior-less for the first time in years.”

The typical burden of senior leadership, then, will fall to the junior class, which includes Taylor Morris in addition to Bauer and Maddi Foutz from this year’s team.

“It’s gonna be a good thing for me and Maddi to step up and be the leaders on the team,” said Bauer, daughter of Elizabeth and Mark Bauer. “It’s not going to be easy, but it will be a good opportunity.”

They’ve certainly had good role models to follow over the last two years.

BHS had a combined nine seniors the last two years to provide leadership to the next generation whose time approaches.

“With the group of seniors we had, they’re always encouraging,” Bauer said. “I think it helps our team to see that.”

It also helps to have been battle-tested against some of the best teams Class 3A has to offer and to be able to watch matches from the other classifications occurring simultaneously on the state floor.

“Now they’ve witnessed it for the first time and have a better understanding of what’s in front of them as far as work and learning and understanding before next August,” coach Foutz said. “I’m grateful they were a part of it.”

They were a part of the good and the bad, though: the qualification and the pool-play blues.

It all makes for some decent motivation to succeed.

“We want to get up here next year and the year after that,” said Maddi Foutz, daughter of Mike and Terene Foutz. “We’re going to keep practicing, and hopefully we’ll make it back next year.”

kgrabowski@ durangoherald.com

Wolverines’ season sets at state 23-3

DENVER – The 2014 season officially ended Saturday for the Bayfield High School volleyball team, even though the Wolverines assumed as much the evening before.
No. 6 Manitou Springs swept No. 10 Pagosa Springs 3-0 (25-19, 25-6, 25-13) to advance to the semifinals against No. 2 Valley, ending the Wolverines’ chance to play back into the state tournament.
Bayfield beat Pagosa Springs 3-0 on Friday, then lost 3-1 to Manitou Springs in the nightcap to force the Wolverines’ wait-and-see approach Saturday.
Only, the Wolverines didn’t waste their time with waiting around; they hit the road first thing Saturday morning, then the Mustangs validated that decision with their straight-sets sweep.
The Mustangs’ run ended there, though, as Valley beat Manitou Springs 3-1 (22-25, 25-13, 25-16, 25-18) to get to the final.
Top seed and defending-state champion Eaton handled No. 5 Colorado Springs Christian 3-0 (25-23, 26-24, 25-16) in the other semifinal to advance to its second consecutive championship game.
Eaton swept Valley 3-0 in the championship match to win back-to-back titles.
Bayfield, the Intermountain League and Class 3A Region 3 champions, earned the No. 3 seed at this year’s CHSAA Class 3A Girls Volleyball State Championships – the Wolverines’ sixth consecutive trip to the state tournament – and finished its season 23-3.
kgrabowski@ durangoherald.com