LARAMIE, Wyo. (Sept. 23, 2017) – The University of Wyoming volleyball team fell in a tough, 3-0 (25-23, 25-21, 25-22) match at the hands of New Mexico inside the UniWyo Sports Complex Saturday afternoon.
 
"We were able to go on a few runs," Cowgirl head coach Chad Callihan said. "But then we would end it ourselves. It's hard to match points when you play that way. It's always nice to open conference play at home and with our next match right away on Tuesday, we definitely can't be this high error with a team like Colorado State."
 
The Cowgirls were led on offense with sophomore Halie McArdle and junior Emily Lewis each scoring in double-figures. McArdle paced the team as she tied her career-high of 12 kills, while Lewis added 11 in the three-set defeat.  UNM tallied a .355 hitting clip compared to UW's .283 to take home the victory.
 
Freshman Marissa Harmon dished out 29 assists for the Brown and Gold, while sophomore Madi Fields recorded 15 digs in addition to five assists. Harmon also had five digs and five kills on Saturday. Senior Lily Austin was one dig from double-digits, as sophomore Tara Traphagan tallied nine kills for UW.
 
Junior Reed Copeland added five kills with redshirt freshman Jackie McBride chipping in four and a team-best three blocks. Additionally, redshirt sophomore Cori Aafedt played two sets for the Brown and Gold to spark the offense with seven assists.
 
Set One
Back to back attacking errors provoked a timeout from Wyoming with UNM leading 6-1 in the opening set. UW would climb back to even the score at 11 and 12 before the Lobos offense took control and won the set, 25-20. Lewis had six kills in the first frame.
 
Set Two
Wyoming opened with a banger of a 4-1 lead before a back and forth contest took place as New Mexico tied it at 11. Even at 17, UNM used an 8-4 run to close out the second set. McArdle paced the Cowgirl attack with five kills in set two. Wyoming had a .323 hitting percentage in the frame, as Harmon added eight assists.
 
Set Three
The third set saw the two squad's trade points until the middle of the contest. Wyoming called timeout down, 9-13 and then went on to score 11 of the next 20 points. A kill from Emily Lewis lit up the UniWyo atmosphere and forced the Lobos to call timeout up, 22-21. New Mexico closed out the match thanks to two attacking errors from Wyoming. McArdle and Lewis each tabbed four kills in the final set.
 
Up Next
The Cowgirls have no time to dwell on the setback, continuing its tough conference action with No. 23 Colorado State on Tuesday night. First serve is set for 6:30 p.m. in the UniWyo Sports Complex. The match will also be televised on Stadium and available on twitter as well.