Cowgirl Volleyball Set for Exhibition Action this Weekend

Quick Facts and 2017 Stats

Women's Volleyball 8/16/2018 1:19:00 PM

LARAMIE, Wyo. (Aug. 16, 2018) – The Wyoming volleyball team will compete in a pair of preseason exhibition matches this weekend as a tune-up prior to the official start of the 2018 season next week.

The Cowgirls will open the weekend on the road Friday at 7 p.m. MT when they travel to Greeley, Colo., for a matchup with Northern Colorado. The team will return to Laramie on Saturday to play in front of their home fans in the Brown and Gold scrimmage at 6:30 p.m. with free admission.

Head coach Chad Callihan returns nine letterwinners from his 2017 squad that finished second in the Mountain West and went 17-14 overall. The team qualified for the National Invitational Volleyball Championship and saw the program's first postseason action since 1994. The Brown and Gold were picked to finish second in the Mountain West in the preseason coaches' poll which was released earlier this week.

Northern Colorado finished the 2017 season 14-16 and 7-9 in Big Sky play. Picked to finish sixth in the 2018 Big Sky preseason poll, the young Bears bring in eight newcomers this season to help account for the losses of all-conference middle blockers Alex Kloehn and Emily O'Neil.

Wyoming will begin its 2018 season with its Rumble in the Rockies tournament next weekend when it plays host to No. 15 Colorado, North Florida and Oral Roberts in the UW Arena-Auditorium. The Cowgirls will serve up their first match of the weekend on Friday at 12 p.m. MT against North Florida, followed by a 7 p.m. contest against Oral Roberts. The Brown and Gold will close out the event on Sunday at 7 p.m. against Colorado.

Notes Heading into the Weekend:

Following an impressive regular season and a second-place finish in the Mountain West, the Cowgirls (17-14) competed in the 2017 National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC). While the Cowgirls came up short in the first round match to TCU, the NIVC selection marked postseason for UW for the first time since 1994. It was the fifth postseason appearance in the history of Wyoming volleyball.
Wyoming finished second in the MW with a 12-6 conference record. It was the highest finish as a team while a member of the MW. Half of those wins came on the road, which was also a new high in conference play.
Wyoming finished the season hitting .230 (1482-575-3943) as a team. It was the seventh best team percentage in single season history. The Cowgirls had 508 blocks assists and 295 total blocks at season's end. Those marks both became eighth best in single season history.
Chad Callihan became the second head coach in Wyoming volleyball history to earn 100 wins with the victory over San Jose State on Nov. 9, 2017. He currently has won 102 games during his five seasons in Laramie. Only Hall of Fame coach Mike English has won more games at UW. English went 124-86 in seven seasons.
During Chad Callihan's tenure, the Cowgirls have a 59-33 mark in MW play, which as a percentage ranks second among active MW coaches and fifth all-time.
Returning Cowgirls Jackie McBride and Tara Traphagan were named All-MW for the first time in their careers last season. Freshman Marissa Harmon joined them as honorable mention All-MW and also the MW Freshman of the Year. It was the seventh-consecutive season UW had at least two representatives on the All-MW team.
Harmon has lead UW in assists during the last 19 matches dating back to last season and 28 of the Cowgirls' last 31. Additionally, she led the squad with nine double-doubles in 2017. Sophomore Halie McArdle, who had four, and Emily Lewis, who had one, were the only other Cowgirls to record a double-double last season.
Cowgirl senior Reed Copeland came into her junior season in 2017 just outside the top-ten in blocks with 338. She will enter her final season fourth all-time with 463. Kristina Dzelme (1993-96) is sitting third with 573 total blocks. Copeland is also sitting 11th all-time in career hitting percentage with .271 (553-219-1233) as a Cowgirl. Katie Donahue (1984-88) holds the tenth spot in career hitting percentage at .272.
Wyoming junior Madi Fields hits the halfway point in her career with 724 digs. As a sophomore, she posted 427 to tie for the fifth-best in a single season for the Brown and Gold. She will look to move into the top-ten in program history this season. Chris Lambert (1983-86) is tenth all-time for UW with 949 career digs.
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).