LARAMIE, Wyo. (Oct. 23, 2017) – The University of Wyoming volleyball team (12-10, 7-3 MW) will wrap up a three-match road swing on Tuesday night with a rivalry contest at #20 Colorado State, before its first home match in nearly two weeks on Friday night against Air Force. Tuesday's Border War is set to start at 7 p.m. MT, while the Cowgirls and the Falcons will begin at 6:30 p.m. on Friday night.
 
Live Coverage
The Border War will be broadcast live on Stadium, while the match with Air Force will be live on the Mountain West Network. Links to live stats and live video for both matches can be found above. Fans are also welcomed and encouraged to follow @wyo_volleyball on Twitter and @wyovolleyball on Instagram for updates throughout the week.
 
Last Time Out
Wyoming split its weekend's matches with a win at New Mexico and a loss at UNLV on Saturday. Led by sophomore Halie McArdle's third double-double that included 21 kills and 12 digs, along with a 16-kill effort by sophomore Tara Traphagan and 28 digs from sophomore Madi Fields, the Cowgirls took a couple sets from the Rebels, but ultimately fell, 3-2. Last Thursday, UW escaped Albuquerque with an impressive four-set win. Traphagan dropped a career-best 21 kills, while redshirt freshman Jackie McBride added a career-high eight blocks and freshman Marissa Harmon added 54 assists and ten digs.  
 
Cowgirl Leaders
In terms of hitting percentage and opponent hitting percentage, Wyoming sits only behind CSU in the conference. The Brown and Gold are also second in blocks (2.78 bps), fifth in kills (12.58 kps), sixth in assists (11.80 aps) and sixth in digs (13.29 dps). Individually and within the Mountain West, junior Reed Copeland is fourth in total blocks (1.29 bps), as McBride is seventh (1.18 bps). Harmon is sixth in service aces (0.30 saps) and seventh in assists (9.01 aps), while Fields holds the sixth spot in digs (4.05 dps).
 
Against CSU and Air Force
Wyoming and Colorado State split its two matches last season. UW won in four-sets in Laramie, as CSU won in five last November. Wyoming's four-set victory was the first win over CSU since Nov. 13, 1997. The Cowgirls did win in 2011, but due to NCAA violations, the victory was later vacated. The Rams hold a 64-20 series record over UW. Earlier this season, UW fell in straight sets to CSU in Laramie. Two Rams led the way with double-figure kills, while McArdle paced UW with nine kills. Against Air Force, Wyoming has won 25 of the last 26 matches and hold a 40-6 advantage in the all-time series. UW earned a three-set sweep over Air Force last season and won in three earlier this year. The win over Air Force in September was Wyoming's seventh-consecutive win over the Falcons.
 
The Opponents
The Rams are the lone MW team with a perfect conference record. CSU is 20-2 overall and 10-0 in league play. Its last loss came to Colorado on Sept. 16. The Rams lead the conference in a number of categories. Paulina Hougaard-Jensen sits atop the MW in hitting percentage (.438, 167-32-308), with teammate Kristie Hillyer in second (.355, 141-42-279). Katie Oleksak leads the league in assists (11.86 aps), as Hillyer (1.47 bps) and Hougaard-Jensen (1.32 bps) are first and second in blocks, respectively. Colorado State leads the league in hitting percentage, opponent hitting percentage, assists (11.47 aps) and blocks (2.90 bps). The Rams are also second in kills (13.88) and service aces (1.47 saps).
 
Air Force will enter Friday's match with a 10-14 overall record and a 3-7 mark in MW play. After defeating Utah State and Boise State, the Falcons lost its last two matches and fell at San Jose State and at Nevada last weekend. Denise Ssozi is seventh in the MW in kills (3.33 kps), while Piper Heineck is eighth in hitting percentage (.300, 211-78-443). Furthermore, Heineck is also eighth in blocks (1.18 bps). As a team, Air Force is fifth in opponent hitting percentage (.195, 1041, 500-2775) and seventh in assists (11.47 aps). The Falcons are also sixth in blocks (2.22 bps) and service aces (1.29 saps).
 
Up Next
After this Friday's match, Wyoming will remain at home next weekend. UW will welcome Boise State on Thursday, Nov. 2 and Utah State on Saturday, Nov. 4.