After a five-set win the night before and without two of their players, the Montezuma-Cortez High School volleyball team would need to pull off something spectacular to beat a likewise-young, but supremely-motivated Bayfield bunch bent on recovering from back-to-back road losses.
After starting the 2026 season with a 15-25, 24-26, 17-25 loss on Aug. 21 at Palisade, then a 13-25, 10-25, 22-25 loss the next afternoon at Battle Mountain, the hosting Wolverines came out on the sunny side of a three-set victory.
“We definitely learned from a lot of silly mistakes,” BHS junior Violet Barton said. “Our whole team connects well altogether; we’re not playing for ourselves, we’re all playing for our team … as one unit. We definitely kept our energy high, did the best we could.”
M-CHS did well at trying to rattle Bayfield (1-2 overall, 1-0 3A Intermountain) out of rhythm during each set’s early goings, but ultimately couldn’t match the Wolverines’ firepower up front. Sophomore Grayson Bailey alternated setting duties with reserve junior Yara Feely, but neither Barton, seniors Vivien Clance and Kambria Bailey, nor sophomores Londyn Hollibaugh and Cora Hanson seemed to miss many beats in the 25-14, 25-14, 25-13 sweep.
After a Barton line kill increased BHS’ Set 1 lead to 23-13, M-CHS head coach Danielle Waltman spent her second timeout. But Feely then teed up Barton for another spike and, after junior libero Kieley White Thunder netted a serve, Bayfield went up 1-0 in the match via Feely’s no-look set dump.
Hollibaugh began Set 2 with a fierce kill through M-CHS junior Addison Sopha’s block, and the Wolverines built up their lead to 6-3 before the Lady Panthers (2-2, 0-1 IML) rallied back to tie at 7-all. But with White Thunder able to gain and hold the serve, Bayfield broke free via a 7-1 spree pressing Waltman into using a timeout.
Though Montezuma-Cortez managed to claim six of the next 14 points, a Barton kill put BHS on set point, 24-14, and Hanson followed with an ace quickly ricocheting off three M-CHS players in barely as many seconds.
Placing a one-handed, reverse set dump into the short corner, Grayson Bailey started Set 3 off in style. The Panthers, however, again answered and soon knotted the score at 4-4 before Hanson served an ace. Moments later, White Thunder did likewise, and Waltman elected to use a timeout with her team trailing 9-5.
Her second stoppage in the set and last in the match came after Hanson again fired an unplayable serve increasing Bayfield’s advantage to 22-12. Kambria Bailey then tipped down a M-CHS over-pass, and paired with Grayson Bailey to block Montezuma-Cortez reserve sophomore Macie McDonald and bring up match point.
M-CHS’ Abigail Schmitt countered with a scoring tip, preventing BHS from winning on serve, but McDonald then cracked a cross-court attack wide and into the Wolverines’ bench, bringing the contest to a close.
“We were determined to win,” Clance said. “We knew we had it in the bag, started off with super-high energy – even at the beginning of the warm-up and everything – and just knew. We’re young but I think we’re strong; I have great hopes for us.”
Montezuma-Cortez, meanwhile, will now prepare for action Sept. 4-5 in Farmington at the FHS/Piedra Vista-hosted 2026 Four Corners Honors Tournament.
