DENVER - Closing out the season on the most visible stage against their arch-rival would probably have helped the Wolverines forget - even if only partly - that the 2016 CHSAA Class 3A State Volleyball Championship had already been taken out of reach on the first of two days in the Mile High City.
Meeting Pagosa Springs in the unenviable 8 a.m. match Saturday, Nov. 12, with only pride at stake, Bayfield re-entered the Denver Coliseum already ahead in the all-important mental game - wearing their alternate black uniforms with gold letters and numbers, apparently swiping the Pirates' own color scheme.
Whether that was part of the game plan, senior Maddi Foutz did not confirm.
But then again, she didn't exactly deny that it wasn't.
"A little bit," she grinned. "But those are our favorite jerseys; I think that that black-and-gold just gives us a lot of confidence when we're out there. But then again, a jersey really doesn't define who we are. WE do."
Greeley-based University had displayed its Patriot League pedigree against both PSHS and BHS - needing five games to defeat each, but shining brightest in each tiebreaker - on Day 1. Bayfield showed early-risers on Day 2 how the Intermountain was won, sweeping Pagosa Springs 25-23, 25-20, 25-18.
"I think our team was very determined to end on a win, and we just went in ready to beat Pagosa again," said senior middle Taylor Morris. She was pressed into starting with junior Ashley Mottin benched by an ankle hurt in a run-through en route to Denver. "That's all we were thinking about all night; we knew that's what we needed."
PSHS finished 20-7 overall, while UHS ended up 21-7 after losing in three to Patriot League powerhouse Eaton in the single-elimination semifinals later on Day 2.
Bayfield, meanwhile, ended up an outstanding 23-4 with losses coming only to eventual 4A State Champion Monument Lewis-Palmer (29-0), eventual 4A Northern League champ and State qualifier Niwot (18-9), eventual New Mexico 6A State Championships qualifier Farmington Piedra Vista (20-5), and University.
"We come from a really small area, we were playing teams that are from really populated areas.and you know what? We gave Greeley a run for their money," Foutz said. "Both of us did - Pagosa and Bayfield. So I think we represented ourselves pretty well."
"An amazing season, forever memorable," Head Coach Terene Foutz said. "This group of students have incredible futures, and Bayfield volleyball will be back in full force next season - and beyond."
Trailing PSHS 17-12 in Game 1 after a Morgan Lewis service ace, BHS rallied to tie at 17-17 with a block by junior Kylee McCoy, two kills by junior Sydney Gabbard, one by McCoy and a blown tip shot by Lady Pirate Faith Ahlhardt - forcing Connie O'Donnell into taking a needed timeout.
Ahlhardt responded with a go-ahead kill, but it was a temporary fix; the Wolverines would tie at 18 and again at 19 before going ahead for good with a Gabbard dink and an ace by senior Emily Bauer. Junior Jade Pascale then put Bayfield up three points with a block and O'Donnell swiftly spent her second timeout.
And again, it was to little avail; a Foutz kill soon after put BHS at game point, 24-22, and after an Ahlhardt kill, McCoy dropped in a tip for a 1-0 advantage in the match.
After Pagosa Springs began Game 2 taking brief leads of 1-0 and 2-1, Bayfield gained the upper hand at 3-2 and never looked back - despite the Pirates' late rally which trimmed what had been a 19-12 deficit down to 23-20, before Morris put away winning back-to-back shots.
"Well I was definitely really nervous at first," she recalled. "But as I thought about it, I was like, if I stayed confident it would all work out. So I just tried to stay as confident as I could, and I think it went pretty well."
"I used to really get down on myself if I messed up, and Terene especially has taught me to just 'Let that go' and make the adjustment," she continued. "That's been my biggest thing these past few years."
For all her time and teachings, Morris and her teammates were beyond driven in Game 3 to thank their skipper - said to likely be stepping down from her post - with one last victory at state, which the program missed making by one match last fall.
A 5-0 burst against Pagosa yielded an 8-3 lead and O'Donnell took her first timeout much earlier than before. Senior Taylor Jones responded with a kill, but saw it offset by one from Morris - which BHS then rode out to a 17-10 lead after a McCoy kill and Pascale ace.
Lewis then netted a quick swing, and even with Foutz giving extended playing time to young reserves Tymbree Florian, Tess Phelps and Mavis Edwards - accustoming them to the event's unique atmosphere for future reference - the outcome was never in doubt.
A kill down the line by junior Courtney Bayles put the Wolverines at match point, 24-17, and herself on serve. Her restart sailed long, but fortuitously so as it allowed Maddi Foutz - as most either hoped or expected - to conclude the action and a storied prep career with a tip placed just inside the far antenna and off a Jones block.
"It was a lot of work all put into one play," Foutz said, recalling that a previous attempt in the same sequence almost resulted in a collision between her and McCoy. "It wasn't just me; it was the whole team that got us to that 25th point. And just getting the last one felt really, really good."
"We've gone from just being players on a court together to really being like a family this year," said Morris. "We were all sad to be done but proud of what we had achieved."
In the 28-30, 25-19, 25-16, 23-25, 11-15 loss on Day 1 to University (which had already outlasted PSHS 24-26, 25-12, 22-25, 25-12, 15-6 in the tourney's initial 8 a.m. pairing), that could have been - and to an extent, was - numerically quantified, with Bayfield players registering several standout performances statistically.
Maddi Foutz led the way with 21 kills (on .390 hitting) and 29 digs for possibly her best double-double ever, while Bayles distributed 52 assists from her setter position. McCoy mashed 16 kills at .414 and Bauer came up with 25 digs in her libero role, while senior defensive specialist Miranda Talbot booked 23 and Gabbard 16.
A 17th would have come, but UHS junior Aracely Hernandez instead recorded her 21st kill on match point. With sophomore Alexsei Vierya booking 53 assists, fellow soph Madelyn Malm recorded 16 kills at a vicious .483 rate (Hernandez hit .182), and senior Katie Potter also cracked double figures with 11, albeit at a .074 clip.
Defensively, Pascale matched her kill count with six digs and as many total blocks. McCoy was right behind with five, Morris had four, and Bayles and Foutz each totaled three as BHS totaled 16 team stuffs (nine solo, 14 assisted) while University managed just ten.
"It was insane! That was just crazy, how good everyone did!" beamed Morris. "We were just on, on, and on - everyone was - and that was what was really cool about it. Even though we lost...we're proud of each other."
"I think we were all a little bit nervous. That was our first game, at state, with all the big lights, the big crowds and the big teams, and they were already on their second so they were used to it," Maddi Foutz said. "Had it been the second game we would have won."
McCoy led the way against Pagosa Springs with 12 kills at a solid .429. Pascale equaled that mark with her seven kills, while Foutz downed nine at .167 as Bayles racked up 21 assists. Gabbard slammed six at .176, and Morris four at .333 as the Wolverines as a team managed a quality .290 percentage.
Jones paced PSHS with seven kills, senior Megan Farrah smacked six and Ahlhardt five, but the Pirates hit a weaker .126 against a Bayfield making nine solo blocks and four assisted for a team total of 11. Bauer was again outstanding in the back row with a team-best 22 digs, while Foutz and Gabbard each contributed 13.
"There really wasn't a lot we would get from winning or losing," said Maddi Foutz.
"But then we were like, 'You know what? We have a whole town who's been supporting us for months! We have family, we have friends, everyone who decorated the bus, contributed so much, who are praying for us!' So we were not just playing for ourselves, but to put an exclamation point on the IML and play hard."
"We wanted to end the season on a really positive note."
REIGN OF TERROR: Eaton, meanwhile, would exit on the highest treble tone on Day 2, sweeping Patriot nemesis Gilcrest Valley 25-14, 25-19, 25-18 in the grand finale to finish 27-2 overall and earn a fourth consecutive state championship.
The Vikings (23-6) fell in four to EHS - now an otherworldly 110-4 during their four-year rule (by comparison, Bayfield went 80-26) atop the classification - in each of two regular-season clashes this year.
