LARAMIE, Wyo. (Oct. 16, 2021) – Jackie McBride hit her milestone 1,000th career kill Saturday night as the Cowgirl Volleyball Team won its fourth-straight in a straight-sets sweep over New Mexico, inside of the UniWyo Sports Complex, winning 25-20, 25-23 and 26-24.
McBride, who tallied 11 kills on the night and hit a match-high .588 in the win, tallied the historic kill in the third set, a set in which UW (12-8, 4-4 MW) had to rally from a five-point deficit, as well as set point, in order to secure the sweep.
Wyoming was able to jump out to win the first two sets, thanks to a couple of big runs in both. In the first, trailing 14-11, the Cowgirls rattled off a 7-1 run to take an 18-15 lead, a lead that wouldn't dip below two points in the opening set. Then, in the second, Wyoming turned an 8-6 deficit, into a 12-10 lead and wouldn't trail again in the second set from there on out.
Naya Shimé led all attackers with 18 kills on the night, while also hitting a solid .364. KC McMahon chipped in with eight kills. As a team, UW hit .271 in the match, while the Lobos (14-5, 5-3 MW) hit .185. The Cowgirls also had the edge defensively at the net, out-blocking UNM 7-3 in the win.
Defensively, it was Lydeke King who led the Cowgirls as she notched five total blocks Saturday. McBride and McMahon chipped in with two each. In the back row, Erika Jones led the Cowgirls with 14 digs, while Abby Olsen recorded her third double-double in the last four match as she had 13 digs to go along with a match-high 35 assists.
"I think the biggest change I've seen from our team in the last four matches compared to the first four to begin conference play is confidence," said Head Coach Chad Callihan post-match.
"We made a lot of errors in those first four matches, and you saw a little of that both Thursday and tonight, but we've built some confidence so that we can still pull those types of things out. Overall we're just playing a lot cleaner."
Wyoming will return to the road to begin next week's action as the Cowgirls travel to face defending-Mountain West Champion UNLV in a 6 p.m., MT contest. UW will then return home for a Saturday 6:30 p.m., contest against San Diego State.
-WYO-
