On Tuesday night, Bayfield senior Kirstie Hillyer and sophomore Maddi Foutz made sure that lesser-talented "Kristie Hillyer" and "Mandi Foutz" wouldn't get in the way of the Lady Wolverines locking up yet another 3A Intermountain League title at Alamosa's expense.
Exploding out to leads of 9-1, 16-4 and even 20-6 in Game 1, Bayfield's dominance appeared to be ensured when Hillyer blasted two kills and also stuff-blocked AHS' Elise Tolley twice for four of the last five points in a 25-12 win.
Game 1 also included massive spikes by both Hillyer and Foutz, and a couple service aces by seniors Suzie Rhodes and Jessie Roukema.
A BHS identity crisis manifested itself in Game 2, when the Mean Moose rode sophomore Megan Meyer's opening serve all the way to maximum leads of 13-6 and 16-9 before Maddi Foutz gave 'Mandi' the boot and started the Lady Wolverines' comeback with a clever dink.
Permanently dissing "Kristie," Kirstie Hillyer then obliterated a Rhodes set, and Bayfield got another point back via an Alamosa passing error. This forced head coach Amber Ullery to call timeout with her team still thinking 'upset,' ahead 16-13.
Alamosa responded with a kill, but Hillyer landed another bomb and set an ace to begin the second phase of the comeback. BHS (17-2, 8-0 IML) at last pulled even at 18 via a Jade Pascale denial of an Alamosa tip. And with Foutz holding serve, Alamosa (13-8, 4-4) didn't score again until a kill brought the Moose back to 21-19.
Senior Caitlin Phelps then polished off a 25-20 win with a kill down the line, and the Lady Wolverines returned to their usual selves in Game 3 after the Moose fought to an early 3-3 tie. Bayfield - led by a hard-hitting Roukema - took the lead, and Pascale downed a kill to end the evening, 25-15.
All told, the Wolverines recorded 45 kills (Rhodes totaled 35 assists) at .410 efficiency.
"The entire BHS offense was productive and busy," Head Coach Terene Foutz said, most proud that her senior class was able to complete a four-year, 32-0 rampage through the IML.
"Jessie Roukema had a breakout match.very strong at right-side attack."
Up next, Bayfield will travel east to Monument for the second time in 2014 and compete at the Palmer Ridge Invitational on Saturday. Their opening pool-play matches will be against 4A Longmont Silver Creek (9-10 overall going in) and 5A Thornton Horizon (3-16).
