LARAMIE, Wyo. (Oct. 14, 2017) – Wyoming volleyball earned its seventh straight-set victory of the 2017 season on Saturday afternoon. UW defeated San Jose State in three sets (25-10, 25-20, 25-17) for what was also its fifth-straight win.
 
"I thought the team came in a little more prepared today," UW head coach Chad Callihan said. "We've talked about how our home matches have been a little up and down this year. But we played pretty consistent all week, which I'm pretty pleased with. It's huge to go up 2-0 in sets and I thought we did a good job of closing out the match with a similar focus we had to begin the match."
 
Six different Cowgirls recorded at least three kills against Utah State inside the UniWyo Sports Complex. Junior Emily Lewis and sophomore Tara Traphagan once again led the way for UW (11-9, 6-2 MW). They each posted a match-high nine, as Traphagan also added five blocks and three digs. Lewis chipped in two digs and two blocks as well. Junior Reed Copeland and sophomore Halie McArdle added seven kills apiece. Copeland had five blocks, as McArdle also recorded two blocks and three digs. Copeland is now 11 blocks from tying former upstanding teammate Laura Beach with 438 career blocks.
 
Freshman Marissa Harmon once again led both teams with 30 assists. Additionally, she had four digs, three kills and two blocks. Sophomore Madi Fields had a match-best seven digs against the Spartans, with senior Marley Taylor was close behind with six. Redshirt freshman Jackie McBride led both teams with six total blocks and also recorded five kills for the Brown and Gold.
 
Set One
Wyoming came out running to open the match. Up 12-9, the Cowgirls would then use a nine point run to take a dominating 23-9 lead. A San Jose State service error and then a kill from McArdle closed the set for the Cowgirls. McArdle had six kills, while Harmon had 11 assists in the first set.
 
Set Two
The beginning of the second set was quite different than the first. SJSU was able to get out to a 5-1 lead before UW called its first timeout. Wyoming evened the score at seven before San Jose State used a 5-2 run for another solid advantage. Ultimately Wyoming earned 16 of the last 24 points to take the set, 25-20. Traphagan had five kills in the second frame, as Harmon once again recorded double-figure assists with ten.
 
Set Three
The third set was back and forth until Wyoming went on a four-point run to hold a 12-8 advantage. Wyoming seemed to cruise from then on and would take the set and sweep behind a 25-17 third match score. Harmon recorded nine assists, with Traphagan leading the way with four kills in the final set.
 
Up Next
Wyoming will be back on the road next week. The Cowgirls will face New Mexico on Thursday before a match with UNLV on Saturday.