{"id":16583,"date":"2025-09-11T19:36:37","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T19:36:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/montezuma-cortez-loses-to-bayfield-in-iml-opener\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:58:38","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:58:38","slug":"montezuma-cortez-loses-to-bayfield-in-iml-opener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/montezuma-cortez-loses-to-bayfield-in-iml-opener\/","title":{"rendered":"Montezuma-Cortez loses to Bayfield in IML opener"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Montezuma-Cortez's
Montezuma-Cortez's Kescoleigh Boeckman (7) prepares to set a back-row attack Tuesday night, September 9, against Bayfield, with libero Keeley Clarke (2) a possible recipient. M-CHS fell to BHS, 3 sets to 1, in the teams' 3A Intermountain League opener.Joel Priest\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Having beaten Monument at the Lewis-Palmer Invitational just days earlier, Bayfield High returned to action Sept. 9 and took three of four sets to win its 3A Intermountain League opener on the road.<\/p>\n

Resisting a 14-3 Montezuma-Cortez run that capped the Panthers\u2019 Set 3 win, Bayfield outscored the home team 12-5 down the stretch to clinch a 25-23, 25-20, 22-25, 25-18 victory.<\/p>\n

After regaining a 14-13 lead in Set 4 when M-CHS senior libero Keeley Clarke netted a back-row kill attempt, Bayfield (5-3, 1-0 IML) responded. Senior Grace Barber blocked M-CHS senior Siana Elliott, blasted a quick set from senior Avery Shipman through the middle, and scored with a tip shot into the Panthers\u2019 softened center.<\/p>\n

Clarke answered with back-to-back service aces, pulling M-CHS (6-5, 0-1) within 18-17. But after Barber and M-CHS junior TessaMercedes Jackson traded kills, the Wolverines closed with a 6-0 run, Barber holding serve for the final five points.<\/p>\n

Panthers head coach Danielle Waltman used her final timeout after Barber split Clarke and senior Sarah Sparks with a back-row ace, then landed another too low for junior Anna Tewell to field. After the restart, BHS freshman Londyn Hollibaugh stuffed an M-CHS over-pass, and sophomore Kieley White Thunder tipped an unplanned set by senior Evelette Hollibaugh to bring up match point at 24-18.<\/p>\n

\"Bayfield's
Bayfield's Evelette Hollibaugh (14) wallops a kill shot away from Montezuma-Cortez's Kescoleigh Boeckman (7) during the teams' mutual 3A Intermountain League opener Tuesday night, September 9, at M-CHS. BHS outlasted M-CHS, 3 sets to 1.Joel Priest\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Montezuma-Cortez's
Montezuma-Cortez's TessaMercedes Jackson (11) jousts Bayfield's Avery Shipman (7) at the net during the teams' mutual 3A Intermountain League opener Tuesday night, September 9, at M-CHS. Montezuma-Cortez fell to BHS, 3 sets to 1.Joel Priest\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Barber then smacked a serve that Sparks received, but it ricocheted back over the net to White Thunder, who put away the over-pass kill \u2013 sealing the win and shifting Bayfield\u2019s focus to hosting defending IML champion Alamosa (7-1, 1-0) on Sept. 11.<\/p>\n

The Panthers set the tone early, forcing a 15-15 tie in Set 1 before Bayfield broke loose with a six-point burst behind Evelette Hollibaugh\u2019s serve. Errors allowed M-CHS to rally to 23-21, and Tewell tooled a kill off Hollibaugh\u2019s block to cut the lead to one.<\/p>\n

Bayfield junior Vivien Clance answered with a block-cracking kill but then netted her own serve, giving M-CHS another chance. Evelette Hollibaugh ended it with a cross-court kill to the far corner.<\/p>\n

Bayfield led 4-3 early in Set 2 and stayed in control, despite M-CHS closing to 10-9. Set point came at 24-18 after Sparks netted a serve, but Jackson\u2019s back-to-back kills kept the Panthers alive until Barber ended the rally with a kill.<\/p>\n

M-CHS extended the match by erasing a 10-3 Bayfield lead in Set 3, tying it at 22 on a Jackson smash. Clarke\u2019s ace made it 22-all, and she later served at set point, 24-22, after a Jackson tip. Her final serve forced Bayfield out of system, and Hollibaugh\u2019s kill attempt sailed long \u2013 ensuring the Panthers avoided a sweep.<\/p>\n

Coming up:<\/strong> Bayfield visits Pagosa Springs on Tuesday, Sept. 16. Montezuma-Cortez hosts PSHS on Saturday, Sept. 13, then 2A Mancos on the 16th.<\/p>\n

\"Bayfield
Bayfield libero Lauren Rich digs up a Montezuma-Cortez attack during the teams' mutual 3A Intermountain League opener Tuesday night, September 9, at M-CHS. BHS outlasted M-CHS, 3 sets to 1.Joel Priest\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wolverines subdue Panthers<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16584,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-16583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16583"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16583\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20281,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16583\/revisions\/20281"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16583"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=16583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}