LARAMIE, Wyo. (May 9, 2018) -- Wyoming volleyball head coach Chad Callihan, who will be entering his sixth season at UW, announced the Cowgirls 2018 schedule on Wednesday. The Cowgirls will once again compete against four teams that qualified for the NCAA Tournament and three that received invites to the NIVC (National Invitational Volleyball Championship) Tournament a season ago.
 
UW will play 15 matches inside the friendly confines of the UniWyo Sports Complex, including nine Mountain West matches. Additionally, UW will host two non-conference tournaments, the Rumble in the Rockies (Aug. 24-25) and UniWyo Invite (Sept. 7-8).
 
The Brown and Gold Scrimmage is set to take place on August 18 at 6:30 p.m. MT. It will be free and open to the public. Wyoming will then begin its 2018 campaign by welcoming Colorado, North Florida and Oral Roberts to Laramie for the Rumble in the Rockies non-conference tournament.
 
Colorado had a strong 2017 campaign going 24-10 overall and 12-8 in the PAC-12. The Buffs reached the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament falling to eventual champion Nebraska, while finishing the year ranked 19^th in the AVCA poll. Oral Roberts went 15-14 overall and 11-3 in the Summit League. They reached the finals of the tournament championship, falling to the Denver Pioneers. The Golden Eagles were a participant in the NIVC. North Florida went 13-19 overall and 5-9 in the Atlantic Sun a season ago. They are led by Kristen Wright.
 
Wyoming will make its way to the Portland Tournament the following weekend and will face off against LIU-Brooklyn, Portland and Montana State. The Blackbirds will be the second NCAA opponent the Cowgirls will face. They finished 20-10 overall, 11-3 in the Northeast Conference and won the tournament championship. LIU-Brooklyn lost the Washington in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Portland, who is coached by Jeff Baxter, finished 15-15 overall and 6-12 in the West Coast Conference. UW will close out the weekend against the Bobcats who completed 2017 with a 10-16 record overall and a 6-10 Big Sky mark.
 
Presented by the UniWyo Federal Credit Union, the UniWyo Invite will take place Sept. 7-8 as Wyoming will play host to Binghamton, Arizona State and Murray State. The Bearcats ended the 2017 season 12-15 overall and 8-4 in the America East. They reached the championship match of the AEC tournament falling to Stony Brook. Arizona State is looking to rebuild with third year head coach Sanja Tomasevic. The Sun Devils went 10-22 overall and 0-20 in the PAC 12. Murray State recorded 22 wins in 2017 while finishing with a 12-4 mark in the OVC. They would fall in the tournament championship match against Austin Peay. They are coached by David Schwepker who is entering his 21^st season with the program.
 
At the Iowa State Tournament Sept. 13-15, UW will face Iowa State, Syracuse and Iowa. The Cyclones finished 25^th in the final AVCA poll after falling the second round of the NCAA tournament. Iowa State went 22-7 overall and 11-5 in the Big 12 a season ago. An NIVC participant, the Orange went 2-1 in the tournament. Syracuse had a 22-14 record and 12-8 in league action in 2017. The Cowgirls will close out the weekend against the Iowa Hawkeyes. They went 18-15 overall and 7-13 in the Big 10 a season ago. The program is coached by Bon Shymansky.
 
The Cowgirls will have 18 matches in MW play, including the Border War against Colorado State on October 2, and senior night against UNLV on November 17. Nine of Wyoming's 18 conference matches will be played at home this season. UW went 9-6 at home last year and dating back to the 2012 season, the Brown and Gold have a record of 78-18 in Laramie.
 
UW will open MW competition with three out of its first four matches on the road. They will hit the road first time out against San Jose State on September 20 followed by a home contest against Nevada on September 22. Fresno State (Sept. 27) and San Diego State (Sept. 29) will be the Cowgirls next two road foes before returning home for a four-match homestand. They will face Colorado State (Oct. 2), Air Force (Oct. 4), Utah State (Oct. 11) and Boise State (Oct. 13) before traveling to UNLV (Oct. 18) and New Mexico (Oct. 20). The Cowgirls will return home to the friendly confines of the UniWyo against Fresno State (Oct. 25) and San Diego State (Oct. 27). It will be followed by four straight road matches beginning with Air Force on Nov. 3. To close out MW competition, UW will host New Mexico (Nov. 15) and senior night will be against UNLV (Nov. 17).
 
Wyoming is coming off a 17-14 campaign that included a 12-6 mark in MW play. Tara Traphagan and Jackie McBride were named to the All-MW team, while Marissa Harmon was named the MW Freshman of the Year. She was also selected MW Offensive Player of the Week during the season. In all, the Cowgirls return nine letterwinners.
 
Season ticket renewals are underway and season ticket holders may renew their tickets online, by phone or in person at the UW Athletics Ticket Office. Renew at by logging in to your account at GoWyo.com/tickets, call (307) 766-7220 or stop by Monday-Friday from 8:30am-5:30pm.
 
Season tickets are also available now with general admission tickets only $65 for adults and $35 for kids ages 3-12. Purchase at GoWyo.com/tickets or by calling (307) 766-7220.  A limited number of courtside reserved seating tickets may become available for $115.  To request courtside tickets, purchase season tickets first and request an upgrade to courtside at GoWyo.com/tickets.