Terene Foutz wouldn't likely have expected her petite daughter to fill the role of 6'6" Kirstie Hillyer.
But for a few spectacular seconds last Thursday, that's precisely what Bayfield's head coach witnessed.
And her daughter achieved the desired Hillyer-like effect that she wanted.
"I just told myself I was going to get the ball! That was just my ONE time.that I've got to do it, so I wasn't going to mess it up!" exclaimed the stoked sophomore Foutz of her improbable one-on-one rejection at the net of Aztec star middle Aubrey Folk. "I wanted it so bad, I was so happy when I got it!"
And neither Folk nor Coach Foutz was finished being flummoxed. Hillyer-of all people-stepped into the smaller shoes of BHS' diminutive back-row dynamo and wowed the crowd by digging the spike by the 6'3" Lady Tiger.
Folk shook her head in disbelief while the versatile home team and supporters cheered.
"We worked a lot on defense, because we knew.who's hitting where-since Aubrey's a lefty, we knew how to dig.her," senior Jessie Roukema explained. "And for [her] offense we knew which way to block, so it was great knowing where and what place."
Hillyer finished with 15 kills and just one error in 17 attacks, for a scorching .824 percentage, and also registered four total blocks. Roukema had five kills in 17 tries, and soph Emily Bauer stepped up with six kills (against one error) in eight tries, and also came up with six digs to equal Foutz (6d, 4k, 3 aces).
"To be honest, we thought that it was going to be bigger competition. Because.we're like, 'O.K., this is Aztec-we need to know this and this,'" said Roukema. "But when we came together as a team and we pushed our limits, we knew what we were doing.so we knew that we could get 'em!"
The Wolverines scored a resounding 25-10, 25-15, 25-15 sweep inside BHS Gymnasium,
Bayfield hit a collective .391 against Aztec. Impressive indeed, but nothing compared to what Monte Vista endured when visiting as the Lady Wolverines' 3A Intermountain League-opening opponent.
Led by Hillyer's 15/2/18/.722 line, BHS rained .525 flame over the resurgent, but overwhelmed Lady Pirates in a 25-9, 25-17, 25-13 sinking, improving to 9-2 overall in the process. Under new head coach Colleen Vanderpool, MV dropped to 5-6, 0-2 IML.
"I think that.all of us together as a team, we know to pick ourselves up because it's kind of like.if we're on fire then they're going to freak out," Roukema (7/2/13/.385) said. "So it's great to know if we see that, let's be rowdier!"
Foutz booked 5/1/9/.444 figures offensively, and senior setter Suzie Rhodes, whose 20 assists gave her 46 in the victories, fired bullets on serve-seven aces in 17 initial smacks.
"Every ball matters; we can't just let mistakes go," said Foutz. "Got to improve every point!"
"In practice we'd been training extra hard, just because we know the competition isn't going to be as tough until we get to [the 2014 State Championships in] Denver," she continued. "So we're just pushing ourselves as hard as we can.improving every day. It's fun!"
The girls played Alamosa last night, then will hit the highway Tuesday for a key clash with Pagosa Springs (9-4, 2-0 as of Thursday afternoon.)
