FRESNO, Calif. (Nov. 18, 2017) -- The University of Wyoming Cowgirl volleyball team dropped a four-set decision (20-25, 25-14, 23-25, 25-27) at Fresno State to close out the 2017 regular season on Saturday afternoon. Senior defensive specialist Lily Austin led the team with 14 digs during the contest to become the eighth Cowgirl in program history to record at least 1,000 career digs. She has 1,011 while a member of the Cowgirls, which is seventh all-time. Additionally, with her one service ace against the Bulldogs she also moves into a tie for tenth all-time with 98 for her career.
 
Wyoming secured its second-place finish in the MW on Wednesday night with a win over San Diego State to guarantee postseason play for the first time since 1994. The Brown and Gold will move onto postseason with an overall record of 17-13 and a 12-6 mark in conference. The 12 wins in league play tie for second-most in a single season for Cowgirl volleyball. Additionally, six of this year's 12 MW wins came on the road. The six conference road wins also mark a new high for Wyoming as a member of the MW.
 
Junior Emily Lewis led the Brown and Gold on Saturday with her first-career double-double. She totaled 18 kills and ten digs. She also posted a .419 hitting clip against the Bulldogs. Freshman Marissa Harmon joined Lewis with a double-double on Saturday. It was just the second match this season UW had more than one Cowgirl record a double-double. Harmon tallied a career-high ten kills, in addition to 36 assists on Saturday afternoon. It was also her team-leading ninth double-double this season.
 
Sophomore Halie McArdle was two digs from her fifth double-double of 2017. She was the third Cowgirl in double-figure kills, with ten, and also had eight digs, four assists and three total blocks. Fellow sophomore Tara Traphagan had nine kills on Saturday afternoon. She also had four digs and two blocks.
 
Redshirt freshman Jackie McBride recorded six kills and four blocks against Fresno State. Junior Reed Copeland added four kills and a team-best five blocks. Sophomore Madi Fields chipped in seven digs for the Brown and Gold, while redshirt sophomore Cori Aafedt had seven assists.
 
Set One
After falling behind 0-2, the Cowgirls took four of the next five to earn their first lead, 4-3. The Bulldogs would eventually tie it at nine and then never look back. Fresno State held a lead as big as six, 20-14, and eventually closed out the first set with a 25-20 win.
 
Set Two
The Cowgirls were in control much of the second set. Jumping out to a 10-3 lead, Wyoming would take ten of the next 17 points for a 20-10 advantage. Behind five kills from McArdle and three each from Harmon and Lewis, UW cruised to a 25-14 win to even the set score.
 
Set Three
Lewis sparked the Cowgirls in the third set, tallying seven kills during the stanza. Harmon also had 15 assists for the Brown and Gold. Wyoming did jump out to a small lead early in the third set, but Fresno State never faltered. Wyoming used its first timeout with Fresno up 17-15 and then its second timeout leading 22-21. The Bulldogs prevailed with a 25-23 set win.
 
Set Four
Another close set for both teams, Wyoming held the advantage 15-12 at the media timeout. Fresno State would take four of the next six and only trail UW by one, 17-16 to force a Wyoming timeout. It came down to the wire with two late ties. Fresno State sealed the victory with a 27-25 win over the Cowgirls. Lewis once again led UW with four kills.
 
Up Next
The NCAA Selection Show and National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC) will announce their fields for each tournament on the evening of Nov. 26. It will most likely be that UW finds its way to the NIVC.
 
The NIVC tournament field will consist of 32 teams, with the first and second rounds set to be held on Nov. 28-Dec. 1 at eight of the participating schools. The event will play through the championship game (Dec. 12), hosted at one of the two remaining schools and broadcast on ESPN3.
 
The NIVC was originally played from 1989-1995. With the support of those founders, the current NIVC will feature automatic qualifiers who are the teams with the best conference finishes that were not selected for the NCAA Tournament. The committee will select the remainder of the field based on court performance throughout this season.