Colony volleyball standout commits to Division II school

PALMER — Marrett Mollnow stood out as part of the Colony Knights Volleyball team that advanced deep into the State Tournament. Mollnow also stood above the competition in the classroom, earning above a 4.0 grade point average during her time at CHS.

On Nov. 20, Mollnow signed her National Letter of Intent to play volleyball for the Division II Henderson State Reddies in Arkadelphia, Arkansas.

Mollnow achieved a goal she’s had since she started playing volleyball while still attending school in the small rural community of Tok,

“I was like, I’m going to play in college. It was always one of my goals and I’m so excited that it actually became a reality,” Mollnow said. “I’m just really excited that someone believed in me enough to say, hey do you want to come play here.”

Mollnow was active in the classroom and participated in extracurricular activities. She was vice president of the Interact Club and participated in SkillsUSA.

Among those who supported Mollnow in pursuing her dream to play college volleyball was her parents, who helped pay for her to play on high school and competitive teams and attend volleyball camps.

“She has the desire. It’s the desire that I saw that I knew she could do it,” Marrett’s mother, Susan Mollnow, said. “I see that she’s a leader on the court and she knows the game of volleyball. She for years has been able to know where everybody should be in the rotation not just herself.”

Mollnow was also appreciative of her teammates who helped push her to become a better player.

“It helped me so much. I definitely would not be where I am without them because it’s like constant competition, but they're your friend too, so it’s like you can make me better and so then you get to have like fun little competitions between each other,” Mollnow said.

Mollnow wants to study natural resources at Henderson State. During her college visit, her father Ryan said that she met the Henderson State University President, Glendell Jones Jr., who then penned her a personal letter encouraging her to attend Henderson State. Mollnow wants to earn her bachelor’s degree and then continue her education, hoping to work on the coast in the field of oceanic conservation.

Colony head coach Steve Reynolds is in his first year with the Knights. He said saw improvement from Mollnow during the season, especially blocking at the net.

“A lot of times we have kids that are athletic and you combine that with intelligence and they can start to learn the game and kind of how the game works a little better,” Reynolds said. “It usually shows, I think just her intellect will help her a lot too. Being able to see things on the court and think things through and kind of analyze the game while you’re out there playing it, I think that will definitely be an asset for her.”

Mollnow was appreciative of the time she spent learning under Reynolds.

“I’ve honestly improved a lot. My overall game has improved. Steve helped me a lot to get my serving down and improve that to where I wasn't missing as much,” Mollnow said.

Reynolds said he saw a spark in Mollnow during the Dimond-Service tournament when she started blocking more consistently, and continued her high level of play through the region and state tournaments. Mollnow’s favorite moment of the year came in beating their Valley rival Wasilla at state after losing to them in the region championship game.

“At that point that didn’t even matter because we beat them in state, so it was like yes, we’re winning now,” Mollnow said. =

Friends, family, teachers and teammates gathered to watch Mollnow sign her NLI. Reynolds wanted to make sure that she took her tenacity for the game to the college level.

“Playing in college is a job, and you have to go to school and manage both of those and stay motivated in both of those areas too,” Reynolds said. “This is a celebration of achieving that goal, and it’s also time for setting some new goals.”