Sirios scores SJBL’s POY award
In life, let alone sports, one often has to show respect in order to earn respect.
And though her team’s season had ended earlier than possibly anticipated at the 2025 CHSAA Class 2A State Championships, Ignacio Volleyball head coach Jennifer Seibel was well aware her team’s league was still alive. And after 2A/1A San Juan Basin League rival Dolores, in a similar struggle for survival, had managed to stay alive on the tournament’s second day by – only a couple hours after Wiggins eliminated IHS – defeating Sanford, Seibel knew she had to see what came next.
Especially since Brianna Wyatt’s Lady Bears were to later that evening face Sedgwick County, the ’24 State Champion and the squad which had efficiently swept Seibel’s Volleycats on day one. And though able to push the Lady Cougars into a tiebreaking fifth set, Dolores couldn’t fight off a deadly dose of SC senior Lainee Nein late and fell 25-22, 17-25, 19-25, 25-23, 12-15 as SC wanted no repeat of a five-set, day one loss to Denver Christian (which took that tiebreaker by a 15-12 margin).
“Dolores did a great job at blocking, did a great job of cutting off specific angles and funneling that ball to their libero – they have a very strong libero. They also flipped Aubree (Wyatt) to a middle, and Aubree’s a really strong, smart blocker so that was a great call on Brianna’s part,” Seibel said. “But in the fifth, that setter finally started giving the ball to Lainee … .”
“They were State Champion last year, and with the heart of a champion … it’s very hard to beat someone like that. And I think Dolores had more fire as a team, but the difference-maker was Lainee; she was not going to lose and was not going to be stopped. Just put her team on her back and carried them through. They weren’t giving her the ball as much in the two sets that they lost, and when we were watching I’m thinking ‘Why aren’t they setting her?’ Every time she was hitting, it was a kill.”
And though Sedgwick County ousted both SJBL reps as part of a wild seven-match run ending with a 17-25, 14-25, 13-25 loss in the State Championship to top-seeded Simla – which had swept SC 25-16, 25-10, 25-15 in those powers’ 11/1 regular-season finale – it meant the SJBL’s All-League Team could at last be revealed.
Which hinted at the regard in which the Volleycats (21-6 overall; 11-1 SJBL, 7-1 2A SJBL) were held.
IHS junior setter Kelly Sirios was voted both First Team All-SJBL and the loop’s Player-of-the-Year after racking up team-leading counts of 635 assists, 392 digs and 80 service aces, plus 133 kills and even 44 total (22 solo) blocks.
“I don’t know the last time that we had a Player-of-the-Year – as far as volleyball – so I was very proud that she did get the recognition,” Seibel said. “Sometimes a setter’s overlooked a bit just because she’s a distributor; she’s there to help her teammates shine. I had a couple coaches pull me aside afterwards and just say, you know, that when they were prepping for Ignacio their number-one question was ‘How do we shut their setter down?’ She was just such a threat.”
Junior libero Tarah Baker (319 digs, 43 aces) was also voted First Team along with sophomore middle Alleah Neil, who totaled team-highs of 193 kills and 95 total (68 solo) blocks despite being a true first-year player.
“Tarah … did phenomenal as our back-row specialist, specifically on serve-receive – she definitely was the anchor. And Alleah added power – and intimidation, really – to the front row; she offered just so much for us in setting the tempo of each match with her kills,” Seibel said. “With her being so young to the sport, we’re all excited to see her growth through the upcoming years.”
Considering that Ignacio both reached the 20-win plateau and qualified for the State Championships for the second time in Seibel’s three seasons, and that Dolores (which had last qualified in 2019) rocketed from an 8-14 overall record in ’24 to a jaw-dropping 25-3 in ’25, the San Juan Basin’s Coach-of-the-Year award could have gone to Seibel or second-year skipper Wyatt (17-8 at Mancos in 2024) – or even Telluride’s Lorrie Mahoney, whose program improved from 14-11 last year (after going 10-13 in 2023) to 16-8. Ultimately, Seibel was selected.
“I was actually shocked,” she said. “You know, we have a league full of great coaches and I think we do a great job at supporting one another, talking with one another – when they come into my gym, I always make time to talk to each, you know?”
“We’re all doing the same thing, we’re all here for the kids, we’re all here to help them grow into better volleyball players and better young women, and it’s great to bounce ideas off one another,” Seibel said. “I look at our league and just think we have a very strong, united coaching front all the way through; I was very humbled – and happy – with the award.”
“Our girls had a very strong season and grew a ton, so I was very pleased my colleagues in our league got to see my girls in the same light. We’re super honored to receive all the votes that we did.”
ADDITIONAL FIRST TEAM ALL-SJBL
Aubree Wyatt, jr., Dolores; Delia Noel, sr., Telluride; Kendall Chavez, jr., Dolores; Lantry Galley, jr., Nucla; Addyson Wyatt, fr., Dolores.
SECOND TEAM
Ellarose Aplin, jr., Telluride; Alexis ‘Lexi’ Lyons, sr., Mancos; Madi Thornbrugh, jr., Dolores; Lillyann Mahoney, sr., Telluride; Peyton Naslund, soph., Nucla; Hadley Hatfield, sr., Dove Creek.
HONORABLE MENTION
Josey Tedder, jr., Norwood; Destiny Kramer, sr., Mancos; Brooke Edder, sr., Ouray; Madison Megahee, jr., Ridgway.