Playing upon their own floor for the first time in 2024—as well as seeing their first 3A Intermountain League opponent—Bayfield fell victim to a plague of hitting errors early against Montezuma-Cortez and never fully recovered in a 25-27, 25-22, 19-25, 22-25 loss Tuesday night.
Montezuma-Cortez improved to 6-7 overall and 1-0 in the 3A Intermountain League with the win. Bayfield fell to 3-5 overall and 0-1 in the 3A Intermountain League with the loss.
“They know how to play their game, know when they’re not mentally in it—and tonight they were,” said M-CHS head coach Danielle Waltman. “There were a few times where we checked out, but we checked back in and they played their game. It was just the girls doing what they do.”
Both sides entered BHS Gymnasium fresh off a taxing weekend of out-of-town tournament play and the visiting Panthers threatened first to take the opening set after a kill by sophomore Tessa Jackson put them on set point, 24-23.
Junior setter Kescoleigh Boeckman, however, then tipped a ball into the net, and Wolverine senior Kambrie Byrd capitalized with a kill giving Bayfield—eager to do work after going 2-2 at the 9/7 Lewis-Palmer Invitational out in Monument—a 25-24 advantage. She then sent her next attack long, and M-CHS closed out the first set with three straight points—the last coming via an airmailed attempt by BHS junior Evelette Hollibaugh.
Hampered by an estimated dozen mistakes offensively in set one, Bayfield appeared to have made corrections in expanding a 6-5 lead early in set two to 14-8, helped by a strong Byrd service stint. Montezuma-Cortez managed to rally ahead, 16-15, with Dolores transfer Keeley Clarke holding serve but BHS recomposed to eventually reach set point, 24-21, after junior Avery Shipman ripped a serve M-CHS couldn’t handle.
The Panthers stayed alive with a point, but couldn’t benefit with Jackson serving as Byrd hammered down a Shipman set and evened the match.
Boeckman opened the third set on serve, and Montezuma-Cortez steadily built up a 14-10 lead, pressing BHS head coach Terene Foutz into using a timeout—which paid off as her squad soon re-tied the score at 16-all via a set dump by senior Tanna Owens. But the visitors—playing their first of six straight away dates, quickly took charge and a Jackson kill off Bayfield’s block brought up set point at 24-19.
Substituted in for the first time just moments earlier, Bayfield freshman Keiley White Thunder then netted an attack—with M-CHS seniors Karlee Hubbs and Gabby Foster defending—and the Wolverines went down 2-1 in the contest.
“Bayfield was digging us left and right,” Waltman noted. “They’re smart, know the game and know the game well. But I feel that we have good, strong serves as well as placed serves; they helped put the other team out of system.”
Though BHS got somewhat back into system in set four, Montezuma-Cortez continually pressed the issue and Foutz reluctantly used both her allotted timeouts as M-CHS forged ahead 16-11. Still, Bayfield nearly forced a tiebreaking fifth game as a Maeli Quintana service ace and another Owens set dump brought the team back to 23-22.
Waltman spent a timeout, and Hubbs responded by scoring with a tip off BHS’ block. The match then ended when BHS senior Christiana Sutherlin sought a kill but smacked her shot long.
“You know, I think they’re starting to find their groove; we’d went to Page, played in a big tournament and took third…did really well,” Waltman said. “They’re tired, but that’s part of the game—the mental toughness. And it’s nice to now get a league game under our belt…get a feel of the IML.”
Bayfield was to next play Thursday night at Alamosa (6-2, 1-0). Montezuma-Cortez will visit Pagosa Springs on Saturday.
