FRESNO, Calif. (March 12, 2021) – The Wyoming Cowgirls' rally Friday night at Fresno State came up short as the Cowgirls fell to the Bulldogs in five sets, 25-19, 22-25, 17-25, 25-16 and 15-10 on the road. Fresno hit .296 for the match while the Cowgirls hit .302. UW entered the contest second in the Mountain West in opponent hitting percentage at .162.

The Cowgirls got out to a fast start thanks to a strong first set, hitting .500 in the opening set. Wyoming (7-4) led for most of the first set, but only led by a point or two much of the way. The Cowgirls finally broke it open late in the set, finishing on an 8-3 run. Six of those eight points to end the first came via kill.

Fresno State (6-3) would take control of the match, however, controlling the second and third sets, leading for all but the first two points of the second and not trailing in the third. The Bulldogs broke a 12-12 tie in the second to score four consecutive points to take control in the second as the Cowgirls could only get within two, at 20-18. In the third set, Fresno led by as many as eight points in the wire-to-wire set victory and took a two sets to one lead in the match.

In the fourth, UW found its mojo once again, racing out to an early lead and going up by as many as 10 points, twice, later in the set. The Cowgirls hit .407 for the set while KC McMahon led the way with six kills in the fourth.

In the deciding fifth set, the Cowgirls claimed an early 4-3 lead, but three-straight points from the Bulldogs put them in front 6-4 and forced a Wyoming timeout. Out of the timeout, the Bulldogs continued their run, widening the lead to 9-4 and forcing another UW timeout. A service error from Fresno State ended its 6-0 scoring run but Fresno would build its lead up to 12-5.

The Cowgirls cut the deficit down to 12-8, but back-to-back points from FSU gave the Bulldogs match point as they would go on to win the fifth and final set after exchanging points with the Cowgirls.

Fresno State was extremely aggressive Friday night in the serve game, recording 10 service aces to Wyoming's two. The Bulldogs also committed 17 serving errors in the process while Wyoming had seven serving miscues.

KC McMahon led the Cowgirls in the loss with a season-high 19 kills while not committing an error on 30 swings for a .633 hitting percentage. Hailey Zuroske added 13 kills and 12 digs on the night to record her second double-double of the season and Naya Shimé chipped in with 11.

Abby Olsen led the Cowgirls with 46 assists in the match while also notching a half-dozen digs. In the back row, Erika Jones tallied a career-high 24 digs while at the net defensively, Jackie McBride led Wyoming with three total blocks. Both teams tallied four blocks total on the night.

The two teams return to action to close their two-match series Saturday. First serve is set for 3 p.m., Mountain Time.