You can say one thing about the Cottonwood boys volleyball team, those boys never give up.

Not this team. 

Coached by Jean Sutterfield, a teacher who was approached by retiring AD Greg Southwick to helm the new program before the 2023-24 season, year two of the Colts was much better than the first edition. 

“Maybe not the way we would have liked to end the season, but proud of the growth we have seen from the boys this year and excited for what the future will hold,” said Sutterfield. 

Cottonwood finished the 2024-25 regular season with a 13-13 record and were 7-5 in Region 10 Class 4A. 

Heading into the 4A state tournament, Cottonwood was given a No. 14 seed and would play No. 19 Logan in the first round. 

At home, the Colts played inspired in the first set, winning
25-22. But Logan made life interesting in the second, taking it 23-25. 

Would Cottonwood seize control of this match in the third set? 

The Colts gave it all they had, but fell, 24-26. 

That meant Cottonwood had to take the fourth set—or their
season would be over. 

The boys volleyball team was trying to do something that
neither the girls basketball team nor the baseball team was able to do: win a first round state playoff game—or series, in the case of baseball—at home. 

In the fourth set, the Colts set themselves up for a fifth tiebreaker set by winning 25-16. 

What was unique about this Cottonwood team is that they only played one senior in Matthew Engebretsen. 

At 5-foot-7 and 130 pounds, Engebretsen wasn’t exactly what you would call your typical outside hitter. 

But, the senior sure made up for it with effort and hops. And, in the tiebreak, he helped lead Cottonwood to a 15-7 win. In all, the Colts won this first round marathon 25-22, 23-25, 24-26, 25-16 and 15-7. 

Engebretsen had a team-high 16 kills in the match. Junior Ray Davidson blasted down 13 and sophomores Jacob Moberly and
Connor Sandusky had seven each. 

That moved the Colts on to the second round at state—at UVU. 

Ironically, the Colts would be playing Desert Hills, the same team that eliminated Cottonwood last year in four sets. 

The No. 3-seeded Thunder blasted the Colts from the outset, sweeping Cottonwood 18-25, 18-25 and 18-25. 

For the Colts, it had to have been tough to lose to the same team two years in a row—but there was still ball left to be played in the consolation round. 

Cottonwood turned right back around and defeated Ridgeline in a best-of-3 match, 25-23, 19-25 and 25-22 to move on to the consolation semifinals. 

Having lost the first set to Pine View 24-26 in a brutal battle, the Colts won the second by the score of 25-22. 

Would Cottonwood have anything left in the gas tank to pull out another victory and move on to the consolation championship? 

The Colts finally ran out of fuel, having taken several teams to the brink during this 4A state tournament. 

They lost by the final score of 11-25 and were officially eliminated from a highly entertaining and thrilling weekend at state by Pine View, 24-26, 25-22 and 11-25. 

For the Colts that were led by Engebretsen with 101 kills and 62 receptions in his final year, the future is indeed bright should the team remain the same in 2025-26. λ