{"id":128238,"date":"2026-05-08T21:03:19","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T03:03:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/mancos-lexi-lyons-team-first-mindset-earns-her-opportunity-to-play-collegiate-volleyball\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T21:03:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T03:03:19","slug":"mancos-lexi-lyons-team-first-mindset-earns-her-opportunity-to-play-collegiate-volleyball","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/mancos-lexi-lyons-team-first-mindset-earns-her-opportunity-to-play-collegiate-volleyball\/","title":{"rendered":"Mancos\u2019 Lexi Lyons\u2019 team-first mindset earns her opportunity to play collegiate volleyball"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Mancos\u2019
Mancos\u2019 Lexi Lyons bumps the ball in a match against Ouray on Senior Night at MHS. (Erika Alvero\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

MANCOS \u2013 When the need arose this past fall, Mancos senior Lexi Lyons answered the bell.<\/p>\n

Coming out of the offseason, the Jays had a vacancy at the defensive specialist position, and while Lyons had grown through her volleyball career as a setter, there was no hesitation to make the switch to help her team fill the gap.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the summer, the coaches needed someone to play defense, and they trusted that I could, so they asked me if I would be willing to \u2013 and I said \u2018absolutely,\u2019\u201d Lyons reflected. \u201cIt was what was best for my team.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the type of mindset that doesn\u2019t always translate through recruiting video, but Lyons ability to adjust to learning a completely new assignment spoke for itself. Her high work rate combined with her ability to control the ball either in service reception or setting up teammates \u2013 not only helped Mancos to another double-digit victory season this past fall, but also caught the eye of Oklahoma Wesleyan University.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir coach invited me to come join them for a practice, and when I visited, it was just a feeling that this was a perfect fit,\u201d Lyons said.<\/p>\n

\"Mancos
Mancos senior Lexi Lyons signs on to play volleyball at Oklahoma Wesleyan University this upcoming fall. (Courtesy of Louis Horton)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Lyons inked her name on the Eagles roster for the upcoming fall, joining a program that\u2019s coming off one of its best seasons in program history, advancing to the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) National Championship tournament.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen they told me they wanted me to join their program, it was a realization that I really am good enough to play at the next level,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

In her final campaign for the blue-and-white, Lyons led the team in digs and services received, while also proving to be a threat from behind the service line as well, leading the team in aces.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy teammates were really supportive, because they pushed me to be better in a position that I was new to, and they were accepting of the areas that I lacked because I didn\u2019t have the knowledge yet,\u201d Lyons said.<\/p>\n

\"Mancos
Mancos senior Lexi Lyons signs on to play volleyball at Oklahoma Wesleyan University this upcoming fall. (Courtesy of Louis Horton)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Her adjustment to the back line to lead the team in multiple categories becomes even more impressive given that she had dished out over 700 assists just one season prior.<\/p>\n

Working with both Mancos head coach Delaney Wright as well as her club team helped Lyons make the jump, and she hasn\u2019t looked back since. The dream of college volleyball really started to take share for Lyons during her sophomore season, and that never wavered, even with the positional shift.<\/p>\n

\u201cI give a lot of credit to my coaches \u2013 the way that they coached, the drills that they ran \u2013 and they just taught me how to be a good teammate,\u201d added Lyons, \u201cand I wouldn\u2019t be here without my mom\u2019s support, getting me into club volleyball.\u201d<\/p>\n

Next stop \u2013 Bartlesville, Oklahoma \u2013 a town about 40 miles north of Tulsa, where Lyons fittingly looks to pursue another way to help others as she pursues a degree in nursing at OKWU. Lyons looked up to her uncle, also a nurse, and after taking some introductory courses for nursing while at MHS, her pathway felt clear.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomething I\u2019ve learned along the way, \u2018if you try hard enough, you\u2019re good enough,\u2019\u201d said Lyons, \u201cand that means pushing to be your best even when things are hard \u2013 the rest will fall into place.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bluejays libero to take the court for Oklahoma Wesleyan University this fall<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":128239,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6313],"tags":[38,39,28,83,37,36,29,6419],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-128238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports-2","tag-dolores-high-school","tag-dove-creek-high-school","tag-headlines","tag-mancos","tag-mancos-high-school","tag-montezuma-cortez-high-school","tag-newsletter","tag-tj-trueanthem"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128238\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/128239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128238"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=128238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}