Right from the get-go, Solymar Cosio was focused on making the 2023 volleyball season memorable.
“Soly’s our game-changer. When she’s on the court, she brings big energy and a big presence,” Ignacio coach Jennifer Seibel said following Ignacio’s Aug. 24 non-league win over Del Norte. “She has so much passion and heart, that she brings everyone up with her. I’m happy to have her for her senior year; she’s so hungry to play … and she’s eager to learn and excel.”
Cosio was recently received First Team All-San Juan Basin League honors – receiving the third-most points in the coaches’ voting process – for doing precisely that. She was also chosen to play in the Colorado Coaches of Girls’ Sports All-State Games on Nov. 19 in Fort Collins.
Suiting up for the Red team, in The Games’ Class 2A feature, Cosio concluded a ferocious fall helping Red defeat Blue at Fossil Ridge High School.
Ignacio freshman setter Kelly Sirios and junior outside hitter Ollyvia Howe were received Second Team All-League honors.
“We have setters on our team that can find everyone on the court; I’m blessed to have had good setters,” Cosio said late in Ignacio’s 2023 season. “Our mindset was just to win; we’d been working all year, and each and every one of us pushed. We pulled up JV players, they really challenged us – we couldn’t have done it without our team, plain and simple. I’m so thankful.”
Depleted by injuries even before the 2023 campaign commenced, Bayfield’s 6-17 record in many ways resembled the program’s malady-marred 7-16 result five years earlier.
Both directed by longtime coach Terene Foutz, the two crews both featured several upperclassmen seeing extensive varsity action for the first time – with some seniors seeing it for their only, and last time.
Both finished in the middle of the pack in the 3A Intermountain League (BHS went 5-5 in league play in 2018, 3-5 in 2023), and the teams’ games win-loss figures (24-47 in 2018, 25-51 in 2023) were eerily similar.
Foutz’s 2019 Lady Wolverines, with then-seniors Meghan Youngblood and Mavis Edwards both back from injury, improved to 8-2 in league action and 18-10 overall. Should the return of senior-to-be outside hitter Christiana Sutherlin in 2024 go as planned, Foutz will have much talent to surround Sutherlin with, including 2023 First-Team All-IML setter and senior-to-be Tanna Owens.
Audrey Knapp and Grace Barber each received Second Team All-League accolades.
“For a young team like ours, full of first-year varsity players, it’s an exciting new chapter,” Foutz had said during the season. “I like the direction we’re going, and have no complaints about how we fought.”
Foutz also said during a later point in the season that the next couple years will be exciting.
