LARAMIE, Wyo. (Aug. 25, 2021) – The Wyoming Cowgirl volleyball team kicks off its 2021 season this weekend with the Rumble in the Rockies Tournament, hosted by UW. It is the first of two Cowgirl home tournaments this non-conference slate.
Wyoming will play four matches this weekend, with two each against Saint Mary's and Siena. The season opener is set for 2 p.m., August 27 against Saint Mary's. The Cowgirls then close Friday with a 6:30 p.m., contest against Siena. Aug. 28, UW faces Siena at 10 a.m., before closing the tournament at 6:30 p.m., against SMC.
The Cowgirls will play 13 non-conference matches this fall, before beginning their 18-matche Mountain West schedule in late September. The third week of the season, September 10 and 11, is the second tournament UW will host with the UniWyo Invite. Missouri, Northwestern and UCSB come to town in September.
Head Coach Chad Callihan enters his ninth season at the helm of the Cowgirls and is looking to lead UW to its sixth 20-plus win season during his tenure in the Brown & Gold. Callihan's 152 victories and .652 winning percentage are both program-bests, as are his 95 Mountain West wins and .669 league winning percentage.
UW returns all but 12 student-athletes from last season's squad, including a pair of All-Mountain West honorees in Jackie McBride and KC McMahon. McBride was named to her fourth All-Mountain West Team back in the spring, becoming just the eighth student-athlete in league history and second in Wyoming history, to be named all-league four times. McBride was also named to the preseason All-Mountain West squad earlier this month. McMahon, meanwhile, was a 2019 all-conference selection.
In addition to McBride and McMahon, the Cowgirls also return Casady Berry, Corin Carruth, Kaitlyn Gehler, Erika Jones, Abby Olsen, Naya Shimé, Kyra Slavik, Zoee Smith, Faith Waitsman and Hailey Zuroske to this year's squad. UW added five newcomers to this season in freshmen Payton Chamberlain, Lexie Collins, Teresa Garza and Kayla Mazzocca, as well as transfer from Tyler CC Lydeke King.
Olson led the Cowgirls last season, who were third in the league in hitting percentage (.227), with 363 assists. Olson's 7.12 assists per set ranked seventh in the Mountain West during the spring. In the back row, Gehler and Jones return after recording 152 and 146 digs, respectively last season. The Cowgirls also return their top five offensive threats to this season as McMahon and McBride led the team last year with 131 and 103, respectively, while Zuroske (98), Waitsman (85) and Shimé (70) were third, fourth and fifth in kills last season.
Season tickets are now available for Cowgirl volleyball, starting at $65 for public general admission and $35 for children ages 3-12. Single-match tickets are $10 for general admission and $5 for children. Fans can contact the Wyoming ticket office at (307) 760-7220 or by visiting the ticket office in the Arena-Auditorium.
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