{"id":44782,"date":"2021-09-09T17:43:00","date_gmt":"2021-09-09T23:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wolverines-pass-league-test-in-cortez\/"},"modified":"2021-09-09T23:43:00","modified_gmt":"2021-09-09T23:43:00","slug":"wolverines-pass-league-test-in-cortez","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wolverines-pass-league-test-in-cortez\/","title":{"rendered":"Wolverines pass league test in Cortez"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Joined
Joined by teammates Payton Killough (14) and Kenasea Byrd, Bayfield's Annie Fusco (8) shouts in celebration during the Wolverines' 3-0 sweep of Montezuma-Cortez on Tuesday night. Fusco registered a 17-kill, 14-dig double-double as BHS won their 3A Intermountain League opener. (Joel Priest\/Special to the Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Although not wanting to have to battle back and erase a large Game 3 deficit against the CHSAA Class 3A\u2019s No. 10 team, the Bayfield Wolverines showed that they could.<\/p>\n

And prevailing 25-20, 25-14, 25-23 Tuesday over Intermountain League rival Montezuma-Cortez, they did.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, we had a slow start in that third set and kind of became a little error-prone,\u201d said Bayfield High School head coach Terene Foutz. \u201cBut they remained steadfast \u2026 plugging away \u2013 I think we were down 10 to 3 (9-3, actually) \u2013 and just kept working. That\u2019s our culture in the gym, so I was happy that it worked out for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Bayfield's
Bayfield's Emily Nelson (9) splits Montezuma-Cortez blockers Elise Galbraith (13) and Dez Boeckman (7) with a kill shot during Intermountain League action Tuesday at M-CHS. (Joel Priest\/Special to the Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

And with perfect timing leading into their next test: the Lewis-Palmer Invitational Saturday in Monument.<\/p>\n

With play to begin at 8:30 a.m., BHS (4-2, 1-0 IML) will start in Pool B, facing 4A No. 5 Niwot and then 4A No. 4 Windsor. Once pool-play concludes, all 12 teams will then be reseeded based on results for a series of \u2018\u201ccrossover\u201d matches (the first-, second- and third-place teams in Pools A and B will then play their counterparts from, respectively, Pools D and C).<\/p>\n

Outcomes of the crossover clashes will then determine each team\u2019s spot in the final-round placing matches. All will be best-of-three in format, with tiebreaking third games being played to 15 points. There will be no scoring caps on any game.<\/p>\n

Besides L-PHS \u2013 winners of four straight 4A State Championships prior to the COVID-altered spring 2021 season \u2013 teams also entered in the frenetic one-day tournament are 5A No. 4 Arvada Ralston Valley, 5A No. 9 Parker Legend, 5A Pueblo West, 4A No. 3 Loveland Thompson Valley, 4A No. 8 Montrose, 4A Colorado Springs Coronado, 3A Kersey Platte Valley and even Intermountain rivals Centauri.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, we were absolutely surrounded by 4A and 5A, and the top 3A teams at the Eaton tournament,\u201d Foutz recalled, \u201cand we\u2019re expecting nothing less of this upcoming tournament. It\u2019s going to be just as tough, if not tougher, I think.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJust a massive test of resolve, you know? That\u2019s why we go \u2026 to push ourselves to play the best games we can. And come home the better for it \u2013 that\u2019s the goal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Road Rulers<\/div>\n

Having more or less run away with Game 2 \u2013 punctuated by a Kenasea Byrd block on Montezuma-Cortez senior Avery Wright, two unplayable Emily Nelson serves and an Annie Fusco clinching kill \u2013 and taking a 2-0 lead in Tuesday night\u2019s match, Bayfield inexplicably struggled in Game 3 and fell behind when M-CHS broke a 2-2 tie with a 7-1 run.<\/p>\n

\"Montezuma-Cortez's
Montezuma-Cortez's Madi Carver (5) attacks against Bayfield's Kenasea Byrd (11) during Intermountain League play Tuesday. (Joel Priest\/Special to the Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cWe had, like, five unforced errors,\u201d Fusco said. \u201cSo immediately we were saying \u2018Serve into the court,\u2019 \u2018Hit hard,\u2019 things like that to eliminate those.\u201d<\/p>\n

And though the visiting Wolverines wouldn\u2019t actually lead until match point, 24-23, after M-CHS senior Sariah Robinson netted a defensive free ball, they first drew level at 12-all when senior Emily Nelson zipped an unreturnable serve.<\/p>\n

Her next offering, however, snagged in the strings and Montezuma-Cortez (4-1, 0-1 IML) reseparated out to a 17-13 lead, pressing Foutz into calling her first \u2013and only \u2013 timeout of the night. M-CHS\u2019 next four points would come only via BHS miscues, while two Fusco kills, one by Payton Killough, a Nelson stuff of a Wright tip, and a Byrd tip away from blockers combined to bring the guests back to 21-20.<\/p>\n

On fire most of the match from the service line, Nelson then served a cruel ace to effectively complete the comeback, though Caroline Glover\u2019s capable crew continued to fight, taking leads of 22-21 and 23-22.<\/p>\n

But Fusco smashed the 16th of her match-high 17 kills (at a .355 clip), tying the score one last time prior to Robinson\u2019s failed free ball, and the Bayfield senior would then \u2013 after Glover took a timeout to try icing Bayfield server Myrah Abdallah-Boehm \u2013 bring the night to an end with one final spike.<\/p>\n

Fusco also logged 14 digs to finish with a crucial double-double. Nelson was credited with eight kills (at .240) and as many digs, and also totaled six aces. Senior setter Sage Killough racked up 27 assists and also came up with eight digs while sister Payton booked nine.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re becoming those seniors they\u2019ve always wanted to be, and it\u2019s exciting to watch that develop,\u201d Foutz said. \u201cThey are very hardworking, very humble \u2013 don\u2019t take for granted that they can play \u2013 and it\u2019s one of the things I love about this class.\u201d<\/p>\n

Byrd put down five kills at .363, while fellow junior Abdallah-Boehm, BHS libero, logged 10 digs.<\/p>\n

Wright downed 15 kills at .235 and Robinson four at .105 as Boeckman totaled 16 assists, but the Panthers were limited to .060 hitting for the match while Bayfield struck at a collective .241. Robinson and Wright each came up with six digs, trailing only Boeckman\u2019s eight for the team lead.<\/p>\n

M-CHS will also return to action on Saturday, hosting No. 9-ranked Pagosa Springs (6-0, 0-0).<\/p>\n

\"Montezuma-Cortez
Montezuma-Cortez libero Cheyenne Castillo-Calvillo dives for a ball Tuesday night against Bayfield. (Joel Priest\/Special to the Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bayfield spikers charged up for Lewis Palmer Invite<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44050,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1871,28,36,345],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-44782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-bayfield-high-school","tag-headlines","tag-montezuma-cortez-high-school","tag-volleyball"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44782","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=44782"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44782\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44782"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=44782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}