Izzy Burns is a unique talent on campus. The sophomore is a blocker on the burgeoning Maverick beach volleyball team, and also a locally performing musician with a few released online works, seeing success in both athletic and musical regards.
Burns was a part of last year’s beach volleyball squad, which made school history, becoming the first program to win an NCAA Division II Team Championship. Burns rotated with a couple other Mavericks and went 3-1 last season.
The singer-songwriter’s music career is also off to a promising start as an artist, and she recently performed locally. When asked about her music career and what made her choose to study music at Colorado Mesa University (CMU), Burns attributed her decision to both the athletic and musical avenues the school offered.
“Besides the [successful] volleyball team, I saw that CMU had a really good music program where I can really get to know my professors,” Burns said, “I’m from Idaho, so [although] it was far from home, it honestly didn’t feel too far. It turned out to be the right fit for me,” Burns said.
Burns even started a band with a group of her classmates, The Lemon Drops. The indie-folk band recently performed at the Warehouse25sixty-five Kitchen & Bar. The Lemon Drops will be performing there again on April 19th, 2023.
As a solo artist, Burns has already published numerous singles, and even an album, titled “You Can’t Stop Me Now” in 2019. The singer-songwriter most recently released her single, “Bandaids on Bruises” in January of 2023.
Burns posts 4,587 monthly listeners on Spotify. Some of her most-streamed songs are “Guessing Game,” “Carry On” and “Broken Compass.”
On the athletic side, Burns expressed optimism for the start of the beach volleyball season.
“I like that it’s a really competitive atmosphere. I think we’ll go for [a title] again; we’re a really good team.
“We lost [around] five players I would say. We had a really big team last year, and now we have kind of a normal-sized team. We haven’t turned our backs, and so the pressure is even higher for sure, but I think we can rise to that expectation,” Burns said.
Burns also talked about her individual goals for the season and what she hopes to accomplish her second time out.
“My individual goals this season are to work hard, [show] more consistency, and also keep a work-life-school balance,” Burns said.
The Mavericks season began on Feb. 24th in Tucson, Arizona against nationally recognized DI talent. CMU dropped their opening game against Boise State University 4-1, but rebounded with a crushing 5-0 sweep of the University of Texas at El Paso.
During an exhibition match, Burns and Rianne Brown, who plays utility, defeated a pair from the Oregon Duck program, 21-12.
The Mavericks dropped both of their next games on the following day against Arizona State University, 1-4, and 18th-ranked University of Arizona 2-3.
The defending champions then competed against DII teams during the South Mountain Community College Tournament in Mesa, Arizona on March 12th. The Mavericks swept both Wayne State College and South Mountain Community College, 5-0.
Mavericks can catch Burns and her teammates at home on March 16th as they take on Trinidad State Junior College at 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. at the CMU beach volleyball courts.
