{"id":40669,"date":"2022-05-12T19:28:03","date_gmt":"2022-05-13T01:28:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/m-chs-sariah-robinson-carries-competitive-spirit-to-college\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T02:56:59","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:56:59","slug":"m-chs-sariah-robinson-carries-competitive-spirit-to-college","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/m-chs-sariah-robinson-carries-competitive-spirit-to-college\/","title":{"rendered":"M-CHS\u2019 Sariah Robinson carries competitive spirit to college"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Montezuma-Cortez
Montezuma-Cortez High School senior Sariah Robinson poses with family after signing to play volleyball at Barclay College in Kansas.<\/span>Courtesy photo<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Hearing her name announced at Senior Night, Montezuma-Cortez volleyball standout Sariah Robinson recognized an unsettling feeling.<\/p>\n

She wasn\u2019t ready to hang up the uniform for the final time.<\/p>\n

A frenetic post-pandemic stretch of volleyball for Robinson and the Panthers yielded one of the best stretches in program history, spanning her junior year and a trip to the 3A Final Four and a 15-7 mark the following fall.<\/p>\n

\u201cSenior year went so quickly,\u201d said Robinson, \u201cand I began to realize that I didn\u2019t want all of this to end.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, with her final high school kill shot behind her, Robinson switched gears and actively pursued schools that would allow her to pursue her passion at a higher level.<\/p>\n

Enter Barclay College, a small private school in Haviland, Kansas, that competes in the National Christian College Athletic Association. The Bears enjoyed a 13-8 mark last year in the Midwest Christian College Conference, a league that spans the Great Plains.<\/p>\n

Barclay reached out to Robinson, setting in motion a series of conversations between Robinson and the Bears\u2019 coaching staff.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter contacting back and forth with the coaching staff, we decided to make a trip out to see the school, and I loved it,\u201d Robinson said.<\/p>\n

For Robinson, the combination of a small school in a tight-knit community felt like a perfect combination.<\/p>\n

The college\u2019s academic offerings also served as an enticement.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really like the community base, and I\u2019m excited because they\u2019ll have a nursing program starting up in the fall of 2023,\u201d Robinson said.<\/p>\n

For Montezuma-Cortez, Robinson became a leader in her senior year, both vocally and statistically, and helped the Panthers back to the regional round of the 3A state tournament. In the process, she ranked among the team leaders in kills, aces, digs and service receptions.<\/p>\n

Robinson has developed her golf game as well, as she and her fellow Panthers set their sights on a return trip to the 3A state championships later this month.<\/p>\n

Yet, for the Panther graduating senior, her love for volleyball evolved thanks to a variety of different supports.<\/p>\n

\u201cCaroline (Glover, M-CHS head coach) was a huge factor. She helped me to love this sport, right from when I first started playing. She and my other coaches also helped me develop as an athlete and as a person.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, with diploma in hand on May 19, Robinson turns her focus to bringing her positive energy and competitive spirit to the next level.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve learned communication skills, gotten so much support from the community, and feel like I\u2019ve benefited so much from the M-CHS family,\u201d added Robinson. \u201cSome of my closest friends have been part of my volleyball journey.\u201d<\/p>\n

While playing for a high-level program has been rewarding in its own way, Robinson reflects on the intangible elements of playing a sport she loves.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the connection with others, and that\u2019s something I\u2019ll take with me the rest of my life,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Panthers standout to continue volleyball career at Barclay College<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40670,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,36,29,346,345],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-40669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-montezuma-cortez-high-school","tag-newsletter","tag-sports","tag-volleyball"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40669","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=40669"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40669\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84721,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40669\/revisions\/84721"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40669"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=40669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}