Colony Volleyball player signs with SWOCC

PALMER — Cianna Jorgenson signed her National Letter of Intent to play volleyball at Southwest Oregon Community College in Coos Bay, Oregon on Thursday.

After an up and down start to her volleyball career, Jorgenson came into her own as a volleyball player during her junior year at Colony High for head coach Steve Reynolds. Jorgenson was unanimously voted Most Improved Player and was poised for a stellar senior season when disaster struck.

“It was really discouraging because the first thing the doctor said is he looked at me and he was like, ‘you’re not going to be playing volleyball anymore this season,’ and I just broke down,” said Jorgenson.

Despite the setback, Jorgenson continued to persevere. She came early to practice to help out with the C-Team and jumped at every opportunity to participate in drills with her left hand. As a middle, Jorgenson’s height and hops have helped her to be one of the premier blockers in the Northern Lights Conference. What sets Jorgenson apart from other volleyball players is that she is ambidextrous, using either hand to strike the ball. When her senior season was taken away from her by injury, Jorgenson saw it as an opportunity.

“Ever since then I do think that it’s really been a blessing because I have spent the last three months in my season working with my left hand and every day I didn’t look at it as a disadvantage, I looked at it as a way to like improve myself and better myself,” said Jorgenson.

Surrounded by friends, family and coaches, Jorgenson committed the next two years of her life to playing volleyball and studying health sciences at SWOCC. Jorgenson hopes to study to become an MRI technician and wants to make a profession out of helping people. After a long career in gymnastics, Jorgenson picked up volleyball in 7th grade and did not see success immediately. Jorgenson played on the C-Team for portions of her 7th and 8th grade seasons before being bumped up to Junior Varsity and Varsity. During the West Spiketacular tournament during her junior year, Cianna solidified her place as a force at the net for the Knights.

“Halfway through the season she just really took off,” said Reynolds. “Something clicked for her and started hitting the ball better and getting more blocks.”

Jorgenson thanked her mother Cheryl and stepfather Mark Welcome and all of her teammates and coaches that have supported her over the years. After breaking her hand, Jorgenson iced her hand and continued to play. During the championship game of the season’s opening jamboree, Jorgenson asked Reynolds to have someone else serve for her. After receiving her diagnosis, Jorgenson begged Reynolds to let her participate in drills and found ways to continue to be a part of the team even though she would not play in a game with her teammates again until the region tournament.

“In practice I would be like Steve let me do this, let me do that, I can do this with my left hand, it’s no biggie and I would just work really extra hard so I think that it actually has a lot to do with my success right now to get me to where I’ve signed,” said Jorgenson.

Jorgenson is excited for her continued career on the court and the opportunity to pay for college with her talent in volleyball.

“I’m proud beyond words and just really happy for her,” said Cianna’s mother Cheryl Jorgenson.

Jorgenson also played one year of softball and served on the Spanish National Honor Society. While her thoughts on what to study have changed, Reynolds says her determination will help take her to the next level.

“It’s not like she’s wishy-washy, it’s she decides to do something she goes and does it,” said Reynolds.

Reynolds says that Jorgenson continues to be eager to learn the game of volleyball. Reynolds said that he uses Jorgenson as an example to younger players as Jorgenson still replies with, ‘yes, coach.’

When Jorgenson leaves for Coos Bay in August, she will miss her teammates at Colony. Jorgenson particularly enjoys putting in work during practice, but will have a new court to dominate with the SWOCC Lakers.

“I want to be remembered there. I don’t just want to go in there and do volleyball and do school and get out, I want to do something that somebody will remember me for,” said Jorgenson.