{"id":44355,"date":"2021-10-07T19:18:00","date_gmt":"2021-10-08T01:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/montezuma-cortez-starts-strong-against-bayfield-before-fading\/"},"modified":"2021-10-08T01:18:00","modified_gmt":"2021-10-08T01:18:00","slug":"montezuma-cortez-starts-strong-against-bayfield-before-fading","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/montezuma-cortez-starts-strong-against-bayfield-before-fading\/","title":{"rendered":"Montezuma-Cortez starts strong against Bayfield before fading"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Montezuma-Cortez
Montezuma-Cortez libero Cheyenne Castillo-Calvillo gets down for a dig Tuesday night versus Bayfield at BHS. (Joel Priest\/Special to the Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Sariah Robinson\u2019s scoring shot that put Montezuma-Cortez up 14-13 in the third game Tuesday normally wouldn\u2019t have been much cause for concern to Bayfield volleyball coach Terene Foutz.<\/p>\n

But because the visiting Lady Panthers had already capitalized on Bayfield mistakes, and Foutz wanted to avoid being swept 3-0, the Bayfield boss called a timeout to refocus her players in a much calmer manner that she had at the match\u2019s outset.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe third set was crucial; I didn\u2019t want to let Cortez walk through \u2018the door\u2019 when we had some unforced errors,\u201d said Foutz. \u201cReally, in the first, Cortez\u2019s first seven points \u2026 six of those were unforced errors. That\u2019s when the clipboard went down.\u201d<\/p>\n

Down and, like two clipboards earlier this fall, very much out of commission.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, the Lady Wolverines took well Foutz\u2019s calmer approach. After Bayfield returned to the floor, junior Kenasea Byrd scored two kills and fueled a 6-0 burst to put the Wolverines ahead 19-14 lead and send M-CHS coach Caroline Glover into a timeout.<\/p>\n

\"Bayfield's
Bayfield's Karyssa Gosney passes from the back row Tuesday night versus Montezuma-Cortez while libero Myrah Abdallah-Boehm supports her. (Joel Priest\/Special to the Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Glover would burn her second of the stanza after Bayfield senior Annie Fusco landed a tip shot to put serving specialist Karyssa Gosney behind the line with a 23-19 lead. It would be to no avail; though able to stave off game point once and get senior standout Avery Wright on serve, Montezuma-Cortez couldn\u2019t prevent Fusco from terminating a Sage Killough set to seal a 25-23, 25-16, 25-20 win in the team\u2019s first outing since a five-game loss Sept. 18 at Farmington, N.M.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey did respond,\u201d Foutz said. \u201cNot because I broke a clipboard, but because they knew that it didn\u2019t feel right \u2013 how we were playing. So we worked hard to speed things up on our side of the net, to play at a pace we like and feel good about, and not to play the slow ball \u2013 that\u2019s what they\u2019re (M-CHS) accustomed to this particular season; that\u2019s how they run their ball.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRunning a quicker net game inside to prevent the double-block \u2026 we earned those one-on-ones,\u201d Foutz said. \u201cKenasea was up and made a difference at the end of the match; Sage was very coachable, made that adjustment and suddenly our middles were hitting and not just our pins. I thought that really disrupted the match at the end.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur set scheme is pretty fast, so we\u2019re really able to get some open net for our hitters,\u201d senior Payton Killough said. \u201cSage does a really good job about working hard and getting her hands on the ball \u2026 and our passes seemed pretty great.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe played our game on our side of the court \u2026 the best we could,\u201d said M-CHS senior setter Dez Boeckman. \u201cWe limited our mistakes a lot more than we did the first time; we were looking at stats and saw \u2026 a bunch of unforced errors, and tonight I just didn\u2019t feel that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe figured out our defense more, and our blocking and our serve-receive,\u201d Wright said. \u201cI think we put up a better fight than we did last time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Entering BHS Gymnasium having won three consecutive matches, the Lady Panthers rushed out to an early lead. But Fusco landed an ace to tie Game 1 at 8-8, and Bayfield (7-6, 3-0 IML) then expanded their newfound advantage to 12-8 on back-to-back kills by senior Emily Nelson. A later Wright attack went wrong, and the Lady Wolverines\u2019 lead grew to 17-11 before the guests stormed back to equalize at 21-all.<\/p>\n

And M-CHS would do so again at 23-23, with Robinson downing a crosscourt kill and Byrd then sending one wide. But Nelson drilled a kill to bring up game point and Byrd made perfect amends for her error by smashing down an M-CHS over-pass.<\/p>\n

Again somewhat slow starting Game 2, the Lady Wolverines tied the score at 5-5 with a Kori Jenkins ace, and then pulled ahead when Robinson netted an attack. Montezuma-Cortez would get no closer than 18-13 before Fusco fired a deep-corner ace. Junior reserve Kaydence Hunter would put down a ball to bring up game point, 24-16, and Nelson smacked a kill off the libero to win the set and put Bayfield up 2-0 in the contest.<\/p>\n

\u201cI definitely think their blocking improved from last time,\u201d Fusco said. \u201cBut it honestly depended on who was at the net; when Dez was up front I could hit line but when their other right-side was up front I\u2019d hit cross. And once we finally got them \u2026 and just kept hard-driving it was good; we could start tipping \u2013 it opened that up for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe tend to be a little bit slow warming up, and as soon as we get warmed up we come out hard,\u201d Boeckman said. \u201cAnd we\u2019ve definitely grown as a team together; our communication\u2019s a lot better, we\u2019ve picked up our energy a lot more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fusco logged an 18-kill, 11-dig double-double in the victory. Nelson totaled 11 and nine. Sage Killough also recorded a double-double with 34 assists and 10 digs. Junior libero Myrah Abdallah-Boehm logged 11 digs and four assists while Byrd finished with seven kills.<\/p>\n

Numbers for Montezuma-Cortez (9-5, 1-5 IML) had not been fully compiled as of press time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we were a little nervous coming in; it\u2019s been a while since we\u2019ve really had to put the heat on and compete,\u201d Foutz said. \u201cAnd it was a good lesson for us, to not start slow. I\u2019m glad we were home \u2026 playing a familiar opponent and, you know, we started getting better and better as the match wore on.\u201d<\/p>\n

And the victory\u2019s timing couldn\u2019t have been better, with Bayfield now facing four matches in six days \u2013 beginning Saturday at Alamosa. AHS will then visit BHS Monday, with Pagosa Springs in town the next night and Centauri visiting on the 14th.<\/p>\n

BHS was also originally scheduled to play at Centauri on Friday, but that game has been postponed until Oct. 22.<\/p>\n

\"Bayfield
Bayfield reserve Kori Jenkins awaits her chance to enter Tuesday\u2019s match. To her left are five roses, commemorating five Wiley High School students, including a friend of hers, that died in a Sept. 8 vehicle crash. (Joel Priest\/Special to the Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Prior to introductions of BHS\u2019 players, Kori Jenkins stood in front of the scorer\u2019s table and explained the five white roses lying on the home team\u2019s bench.<\/p>\n

And in a sense, the solemn speech and subsequent honorary moment of silence were held at an appropriate time; five Wiley High School students \u2013 one a sophomore defensive specialist on WHS\u2019 highly-ranked squad \u2013 died in a car crash Sept. 8 \u2013 the day after Bayfield had prevailed at M-CHS, or about as far west as one can be from Prowers County in the Eastern Plains without crossing the state line.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven though most of us didn\u2019t know them, they were still part of the community \u2013 still part of the student-athlete community \u2013 so I just wanted to make it special for them,\u201d Jenkins said. \u201cI was actually pretty good friends with one of the kids in the car accident \u2026 and I\u2019d wanted to do it right after they\u2019d passed away but we didn\u2019t have a home game until\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you come from a small town, and you know small-town things and everybody knows each other, your heart absolutely breaks when you hear of any kids in that community who lose their life \u2013 and we\u2019ve had that in Bayfield,\u201d Foutz said. \u201cBut to lose five in one moment is overwhelming; we can\u2019t imagine the pain of their friends, their family, their whole community.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Colorado High School Activities Association 2021 Girls\u2019 Volleyball Bulletin shows Wiley with an enrollment of 63.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t fix terrible things, but we can let people know that they\u2019re not alone while they fight through them,\u201d Foutz said, \u201cand I really commend Kori for \u2026 bringing that message into our program. I thought it was a really great thing to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Bayfield volleyball, and Bayfield schools as a whole, we\u2019re a really tight community,\u201d said Jenkins, a junior. \u201cWe expect a lot from each other in terms of support with that special culture Bayfield has. \u2026It was important just to honor (Wiley), and show Bayfield cares.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ranked No. 5 in this week\u2019s CHSAANow.com Class 1A rankings, the Wiley proudly stood 11-1 overall. It\u2019s only loss was to No. 1 Briggsdale.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Panthers lead early, but Bayfield quickens pace<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44356,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-44355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44355","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=44355"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44355\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44355"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=44355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}