BAYFIELD
After finishing its final home practice of the season Wednesday night at Bayfield High School, the Wolverines’ volleyball team walked out the door toward the bus.
A human tunnel of community members, fellow athletes and parents escorted the team from one door to the next amid cheers and clapping.
Every member of the team stuck her head out of the windows on the left side of the bus, and the Wolverines snapped a team selfie.
Once the players finished loading snacks for another promising road trip, a police car escorted the bus out of the BHS parking lot with sirens blaring; this, however, was not cause for alarm.
The motorcade accumulated a line of cars that followed it to the roundabout between Bayfield Town Center and U.S. Highway 160, and the bus made three laps around the roundabout with arms waving at well-wishers before it turned left onto U.S. Highway 160 toward Denver and the 2014 Colorado High School Activities Association Class 3A Girls Volleyball State Championships.
BHS will be making its sixth consecutive appearance at state, which starts at 8 a.m. Saturday at the Denver Coliseum, a run that spans two coaches and more than 50 different varsity players.
“The love of the game. We come into a program that we’ve been successful in, so girls want to be successful again and keep going,” said BHS senior All-American Kirstie Hillyer, daughter of Laura and Rich Hillyer. “It’s more of a drive to want to be the best that you can be.”
BHS last missed the state tournament in 2008 when this year’s crop of seniors was in sixth grade and Flo Rida and T-Pain ruled the Billboard music charts at No. 1 with “Low.”
The next year’s trip, which began Bayfield’s run, ended the Wolverines’ 20-year absence from the state tournament.
What changed?
Kelley Rifilato took the helm in 2008.
Rifilato, who now coaches at Fort Lewis College, inherited a team that went 16-8 the previous season and had just won a conference championship. She mixed the ingredients perfectly.
BHS finally broke through in the 2009 tournament, finishing third as part of a record setting 25-3 season.
BHS won 135 games under Rifilato and finished third at state twice in that run.
Terene Foutz, who also has coached at Durango High School and Ignacio High School, stepped in to replace Rifilato in 2012. She was, and still is, heavily involved in the Four Corners Volleyball Club, which provides year-round competition and training for area players.
“A lot of these kids who’ve come through the program are year-round volleyball players,” Foutz said. “I think that by getting matches in the offseason and training in the offseason, by the time the fall season rolls around, it’s time to showcase what they’ve brought to the court, and their experience scale goes up exponentially.”
The Wolverines didn’t skip a beat under Foutz.
They qualified for last season’s state tournament as a No. 8 seed, and Foutz and the Wolverines are a No. 3 seed this season.
“I think both coaches lend a great experience. There are a lot of common factors to two coaches like that, in that we work very hard to translate that onto younger players and teach them along the way, whether it’s competing regardless of situation, pushing in the clutch and just advancing skills as fast as they can,” Foutz said. “I don’t think it was a big transition for the girls, I really don’t.”
The Wolverines certainly didn’t falter or lose any momentum.
Bayfield volleyball’s senior class capped a perfect 32-0 conference record (only Hillyer has been involved in all 32 of those wins) earlier this season and has lost only 16 matches against 94 wins in four years.
And counting.
The Wolverines are guaranteed two matches Friday against Manitou Springs and Pagosa Springs and could clinch their first semifinal berth since 2011 with two victories.
“We’ve left the state tournament three years without that trophy; it’s no holds barred this year,” Foutz said. “We’re in contention, and we like being the dark horse. We’re OK with it.”
BHS never has won a state championship in volleyball, but Foutz thinks this group, led by its talented group of seniors who aren’t used to losing, could be the one to take that leap.
“I believe in this team,” she said. “We’re going to play our very best in the next two matches, and we’ll find out if we’re worthy enough to break through.”
Regardless of their final finish, the Wolverines know Friday will mark an ending as much as a beginning. They’ll be playing together for the final time, and for some of them, for the last time as organized volleyball players.
“We’ve grown together so much,” said BHS senior Jessie Roukema, daughter of Jerrin and Shane Roukema. “It’s crazy. I’m just super-excited to see what we can do.”
kgrabowski@durangoherald.com
