LARAMIE, Wyo. (Sept. 25, 2018) – The Wyoming volleyball team looks to keep its strong start in conference play rolling this week, as it heads to California for a pair of MW matches at Fresno State and San Diego State. The Cowgirls (10-4, 2-0 MW) open the weekend this Thursday at 8 p.m. MT when they'll match up with the Bulldogs in Fresno, before heading to San Diego for a showdown with the Aztecs on Saturday at 7 p.m. MT.
"If you want to be a champion, like we've talked about, you need to go in and win these matches on the road against tough opponents," head coach
Chad Callihan said. "I think we've been pretty good on the road the last couple of years, so hopefully we can continue that trend."
Wyoming is coming off a 2-0 showing in their opening weekend of Mountain West play, picking up a pair of sweeps over San Jose State and Nevada. Outside Hitter
Halie McArdle led the Wyoming offense with 17 kills on the weekend.
Reed Copeland turned in another solid effort on defense with 17 total blocks, while
Madi Fields recorded 36 digs, nine assists and two service aces.
Copeland was named MW Defensive Player of the Week for her efforts, marking her second weekly conference honor of the season. It marked the third MW Player of the Week honor for the team in 2018, as sophomore
Jackie McBride was named Offensive Player of the Week following the opening week of the season.
Fresno State heads into this weekend's match with the Cowgirls at 9-5 overall after picking up a 3-0 win at San Diego State last Friday in their MW opener. The Bulldogs wrapped up their nonconference schedule with an 8-5 record that included wins over Valparaiso, San Francisco and Portland State. Taylor Slover leads Fresno State in kills with 202 on a .202 hitting percentage. Setter Madelyn Haltman has paced the team in assists with 510 so far this season to rank third in the MW. Sophomore libero Reagan Leonard leads the MW in digs with 275, while middle blocker Montez Uigaese has racked up 62 total blocks so far this season. Head coach Jonathan Winder is in his first year at the helm of the Bulldog program.
Thursday's match at Fresno State will mark the 30th in the series between the two teams, which dates back to 1979. The Cowgirls have won 17 of the previous 29 meetings against the Bulldogs.
The Aztecs enter the weekend with a 1-13 overall record after an 0-2 start to their MW schedule with loses to Fresno State and Air Force. Senior middle blocker Deja Harris leads the Aztecs in kills with 182 on a .358 hitting percentage that ranks fifth in the MW. Harris also ranks fifth in the MW with a 1.23 blocks per set average and fourth with 4.23 points per set. Setter Delaney Taylor ranks sixth in the MW averaging 8.37 assists per set. Head coach Deitre Collins-Parker enters her 10th season at San Diego State with a 147-140 overall record since taking over the program.
The Cowgirls and Aztecs will be meeting for the 53rd time in the series, which dates back to 1979. San Diego State currently boasts a 37-15 lead in the series; however, Wyoming has won four of the last five matches and seven of the last nine.
Fans can follow the action this Thursday at gobulldogs.com/sidearmstats/wvball. Live scoring for Saturday's match can be found at aztecs.statbroadcast.com. Both matches will be streamed live on the MW Network.
