LARAMIE, Wyo. (Oct. 1, 2019) – It was a valiant effort Tuesday night by the Wyoming volleyball team as the Cowgirls battled to the end against 16th-ranked Colorado State, but it was not enough as UW came up short in five dramatic sets. Set scores went 25-20, 16-25, 29-27, 20-25 and 10-15.
The loss snaps the Cowgirls' (7-7, 2-1 MW) seven-match regular season winning streak. The win for CSU (13-1, 3-0 MW) was its 12th consecutive.
"Well, we're the better passing team typically, but we didn't have a good night passing and weren't able to run our offense the way we typically like," said head coach Chad Callihan.
"Also digging, they took 13 more swings than we did, which is 13 more opportunities for us to get a dig, but yet they still out-dug us by eight."
Wyoming got off to a strong start to the match, holding the Rams to just a .049 hitting percentage in the opening set as both teams traded points in the back-and-forth set, however, the Cowgirls were able to close on a 6-1 run to jump ahead in the match.
After a second set that was controlled most of the way by CSU, Wyoming rallied to win the most thrilling set of the night, the third, to take a two sets to one lead. The Rams had set point at 24-23 while the Pokes had set points at 26-25 and 27-26 before finally capitalizing to take the set at 29-27.
In the fourth and fifth sets, CSU adjusted and was able to close the match winning the final two sets, controlling and being ahead for most of the time to end things.
"I thought the match got away from us in the fourth," said Callihan.
"That fourth set is critical and even though the match went five sets, they kind of got momentum back in the fourth and started getting into a rhythm offensively and that is probably where this match was determined."
KC McMahon led Wyoming in the loss with 16 kills to go along with four digs and three block assists. Jackie McBride added 13 kills and hit a match-high .480 while Emersen Cyza and Kyra Slavik chipped in with seven and six, respectively.
In the first start of her career, Slavik paced the Cowgirls with 45 assists while adding six digs and a trio of block assists. Defensively, the Pokes were led by Madi Fields' 23 digs while Erika Jones tallied nine. McBride led UW at the net with five total blocks.
For the match, the Rams hit .278 while Wyoming hit .231. CSU also had a 5-3 edge in service aces. Although, the Cowgirls did end up out-blocking the top blocking team in the Mountain West, tallying 12 total blocks to Colorado State's 10.
Next, the focus shifts to Air Force as Wyoming travels to face the Falcons Thursday at 6:30 p.m. It will be the Cowgirls' fourth match in eight days.
-WYO-
