FARMINGTON - It won't be the most-read chapter in the popular saga of regional volleyball.

But should the Bayfield volleyball girls go into the post-season, Tuesday's trip to Farmington and four-game loss (25-22, 20-25, 14-25, 19-25) to Piedra Vista could prove a vital reference of what and what not to do to in the postseason.

And particularly what not to do when attempting to impose their collective will.

"In the clutch we can't be tipping," said junior Kylee McCoy. "We're not going to tip our way to state."

"We wanted to have the upper hand, still have energy and swinging hard," she continued. "And I feel that's what got us - not that we were tired, but we were hesitant about taking those swings, putting the ball down."

Certainly, PV's 6'3" Courtney Moore forced her share of re-routed attacks, with help coming from senior Stephanie Schmidt, but the Wolverines knew from going at Centauri junior Ember Canty and Montezuma-Cortez senior Danielle McDonald - resulting in three-game sweeps of their 3A Intermountain League foes three days before - that such height could be handled.

"We just have to remember that we may be little - we're a very little team - but we work every day on moving around blocks," junior Jade Pascale said, "and we just need to continue working to be as good as we can."

One of BHS' best ways to out-maneuver the opposing middles, as both CHS and M-CHS discovered inside BHS Gymnasium, was vicious serving that impressed Panther boss Ron Becker. Right off the bat, Bayfield junior Sydney Gabbard burned senior defensive specialist Sam DeWees twice and senior libero Rebekah Eaves once.

Piedra Vista (9-0, 0-0 Dist. 1-6A), however, scrapped back to 3-3 with a Moore block on senior Maddi Foutz and an ace by senior Bebe Jaquez, and actually took a 5-3 lead before BHS got points from McCoy and Pascale to pull ahead at 7-5, en route to building a lead as large as 17-11 before PV rallied to tie at 18. Undaunted, McCoy mashed a kill to retake the lead, junior middle Ashley Mottin scored with a tip and a PV net violation gave Jerry A. Conner Fieldhouse's guests a margin they'd maintain in winning Game 1 with a block by Mottin and junior setter Courtney Bayles.

"I think we came out just a bit nervous because they are a great team," said Piedra Vista senior Elli Wright. "So, once we started passing the ball - they had good serves - that's when the offense started going."

"Our heads weren't in it," PVHS senior Kamryn Gordon said bluntly. "We weren't playing to our full potential. We knew we could pick it up, and that's what we did."

Wright and Pascale opened Game 2 trading kills, and the sides swapped equally until the Panthers took the lead at 6-5 and increased it to 11-7 with a Gordon set dump.

Bayfield head coach Terene Foutz immediately called timeout, but to little avail. Making the visitors taste their own medicine, Jaquez landed three straight aces to stretch the lead to 17-9 and the Wolverines (5-3, 2-0 IML) got no closer than 24-20 before Moore evened the match with a tap.

Gabbard began Game 3 with a great serve, but Moore countered with a putaway and Piedra Vista proceeded to a 2-1 lead in the match. Foutz regrouped her troop after a Wright kill put PV ahead 8-3, but after Bayfield crept back to 14-7, the locals separated with a Moore-driven six-point burst and Wright ultimately tooled a McCoy block for the 11-point win.

The Wolverines knew it too, and scoring shots from Pascale, Maddi Foutz and McCoy not only opened a 3-1 lead in Game 4, but proved they could still pressure their interstate rivals. As it turned out, Piedra Vista wasn't able to make their move until two Jaquez kills, a Moore block and a BHS double-contact infraction gave the home team a 15-11 advantage which they were then able to swell to 21-13 after two Wright smashes.

Still, Bayfield was not down for the count.

"Last year PV took the game from us pretty good, and we'd been working in the off-season, because we knew we were going to go more than three with them," McCoy said. "We knew it was going to be a hard fight."

Down 24-14 after a Moore ace and Schmidt block, the Coloradans fought back with a Foutz rejection of junior Meagan Ellis, a Foutz kill, two PV passing errors and a Mottin stuff before Wright went cross-court, right to left, to put the issue to rest.

"They earned that point," grinned McCoy. "We were trying so hard to keep it; they earned that, for sure."

Added Pascale: "We definitely went for everything, played our hearts out. It just was tough - back and forth, back and forth, and we just got the bad end of it."

"We had really good energy, honestly. We had to make our own since we were at an away game - PV's very loud, so we came in knowing we had to be just as loud. Or louder," she added. "I feel that was a big aspect."

McCoy said she and her teammates need to work on the details of the game.

"We're definitely going to work on blocks," she said. "The pins were getting on block basically, getting lined up. The middles have to have level eyes, to be able to react and get out there and close. There were a few times when the middles didn't close all the way, and it's understandable; PV has a very fast offense. But we didn't close and they were hitting the gaps."

"And the pass and serve game is super-important for playing these big teams - any team, really - and we'll get it. We'll come back and play them for our Homecoming!"

Up first, however, will be tomorrow's trip to Alamosa (5-2, 1-1), followed by a Sept. 27 visit to 4A Durango.