Cottonwood volleyball dealing with inexperience

Things were peachy-keen last season when Cottonwood High’s senior-laden volleyball team ran roughshod over its region competition on its way to a fifth-place finish in the state tournament.

That was then, this is now.

The Colts, who lost seven seniors and their entire starting lineup to graduation, are in full rebuilding mode this season. Cottonwood was 2-9 overall as of our press deadline, with victories over Viewmont (3-1) and Springville (2-1). The Springville victory came after the Colts had lost their first six matches at the Labor Day Classic at Bingham High Sept. 2-3.

Cottonwood, which finished 23-3 overall and 11-0 in Region 2 last season, lost Alydia Fields, Alexis Aalona, McKenzie Anderson and Whitney Taylor, among other senior starters, to graduation. Fields earned a scholarship to Idaho State and Aalona is now playing at Westminster.

In their place, the trio of Rachel Wyss, Hannah Reynolds and setter Taylor Drowne are attempting to lead the Colts. Wyss is the only returning player with prior varsity experience. Wyss and Reynolds each had 10 kills and Drowne distributed 26 assists in a loss to Skyline.

The Colts got off to a rough start at the Labor Day Classic, losing to Kearns (2-1), Northridge (2-0), Mountain View (2-0), Orem (2-0), West Jordan (2-0) and Olympus (2-1) before defeating Springville. Cottonwood has also lost to Lehi (3-0), Skyline (3-1) and Murray (3-0) in non-region action.

Cottonwood won the Viewmont match 26-24, 17-25, 26-24, 25-17, and rallied from one game down to edge Springville 23-25, 29-27, 15-10.

The Colts, who have lost 29 of 38 games thus far, lost recent games to visiting Brighton 3-1 on Sept. 13, followed by a 3-0 road loss to Jordan on Sept. 15.