Her detailed volleyball career having already taken flight in Mancos’ blue-and-white, Teya Yeomans will look to elevate her power-packed game to much higher heights in, appropriately, the Big Sky.
As in both Big Sky Country and the Big Sky Conference.
Making official Wednesday morning, Nov. 8, a commitment initially revealed last year via word-of-mouth and social media, the Bluejays senior at last put pen to paper and signed a National Letter-of-Intent to become an NCAA Division I student-athlete at Montana State University.
“I think the second I stepped onto campus, it felt like home,” Yeomans said, while roughly 50 onlookers – including teammates, coaches, family, school personnel and other backers – milled about MHS Gymnasium’s lobby, enjoying a breakfast buffet stacked with occasion-specific snacks. “At that point it wasn’t really like ‘I could possibly go here’; it was like ‘This is where I want to be, this is where I want to thrive the next four years.’”
“The community there is super supportive – the community, the coaches and the team overall. On campus everything just felt right; it was perfect.”
“She’s the first female D-I athlete out of Mancos High School,” beamed MHS head coach Brianna Yeomans-Allison, “paving the way for younger kids. I think younger girls will look up to that like ‘It’s a dream, but it’s a dream that I can chase!’”
“As I look out and I see all of these young ladies – and young men – I want you to understand this is a small-town girl that had a dream … and is realizing that,” Mancos athletic director Travis Greenlee said in a brief speech given before Yeomans autographed her unique documents. “No matter what you want to do, if you … put in the work, you can realize that goal.”
Now Bozeman-bound, the Mancos standout really couldn’t have found more space to soar – on and off the court – by selecting the largest college campus in the nation’s fourth-largest state. And volleyball? MSU likes to do that big, too.
Led by head coach Matt Houk – named back in mid-January the 12th skipper in Bobcat Volleyball history – and associate head coach Jen Houk in 2023, the Bobcats just recently improved to 15-7 overall (8-4 BSC) via their 3-1 home win Saturday, Nov. 4, over Northern Arizona University inside 1,900-seat Shroyer Gymnasium.
Inside nearby Brick Breeden Fieldhouse, site of this weekend’s 2023 Montana High School Association All-Class State Volleyball Tournament – running concurrent with the Nov. 9-11 Colorado High School Activities Association State Championships – MSU once defeated archrival Montana before a Big Sky-record crowd of 6,378 back in 2002.
The ’Cats are next slated to play Thursday night, Nov. 9, in Pocatello, Idaho, at Idaho State, then travel to Ogden, Utah, to face Weber State on the 11th – all while Mancos pursues CHSAA’s Class 2A crown inside the Denver Coliseum.
“We’re pretty proud that we’ve been working toward her personal dream but yet a team dream of stepping onto that State Volleyball court, taking the whole team up there,” said Yeomans-Allison. “Collectively there’s been a lot of ups and downs, but the girls have put in a whole lot of time … and they trust Teya. She’s a great leader, and it’s a great way to end her senior (season): This signing, and now we head off to State. We’re super-excited.”
Yeomans won’t have any hesitation about reporting how things went to Houk & Co., either.
“I talk to the coaching staff at least once a week, and they’re so awesome,” she said. “Coach Houk, this is actually his first season at Montana State, and he and his coaching staff … really care about you as a person – not just a player – and I think that’s super special. You’re more than just a pawn on the court.”
Based on his track record as a recruiter – he assembled the nation’s top-rated class in 2020 for the University of Minnesota, where he’d previously been since Spring 2014 – Houk’s not known for stockpiling pawns, but rather queens.
Especially if one needs replacing. One, say, like current senior outside hitter Kira Thomsen – who very recently broke MSU’s career kills record, surpassing a mark set back in 1981, on Nov. 2 in a four-game home loss to University of Northern Colorado. Thomsen, coincidentally, hails from northern Colorado as an alumna of Parker-based 5A Chaparral.
“She’s an absolute hammer!” said Yeomans, considering a business major at MSU, plus a double-minor in Economics and Marketing. “Obviously when I get up there we’ll see where I fit into the puzzle, but I think outside hitter’s where I’ll be playing … kind of filling those big shoes and, ultimately, making a name of my own. And I’ve met other girls in my recruiting class. … I’m so excited to get on the court, go through all the highs and lows with them.”
“Let us really slow down, to think about the size of this moment,” Greenlee said. “This the accumulation of so much work ‘in the dark’ – so many hours of getting up early, so many miles going down the roads – to realize a dream.”
“Teya’s going to sign a paper … to play college volleyball. But not only that, she’s going to sign the paper, to sign herself up for four more years of … work. Of blood, sweat, tears, getting up early … putting in the effort to be the best that she can be.”
“Being from Mancos, it is possible,” stated Yeomans. “Coach Houk believes in me, everybody that I love has believed in me, and I just want to go, work, and prove to everybody that I deserve to be there. I just feel so honored.”
“Without the community we wouldn’t be where we’re at,” Yeomans-Allison said. “The community support and the school support has made it super special; all … have played into her being where she’s at.”
