CHARLESTON, S.C. (Sept. 3, 2021) – The Wyoming volleyball team had a successful day at the Charleston Southern VolleyBuc Invitational, recording a pair of four-set victories on the day. The Cowgirls defeated Jacksonville State and Charleston Southern.
The Cowgirls (4-2) opened with a hard-fought four-set victory over Jacksonville State, handing the Gamecocks their first loss of the season, 29-27, 23-25, 25-21 and 25-17.
In the opening set against JSU, Wyoming fell behind early, 8-4, but following a Cowgirl timeout, went on a quick 4-0 streak to tie things at 8-8. Later in the set, UW again found itself behind, 12-9, before another run tied things up again. From that point on, the two teams essentially traded points for the remainder of the set, but saw the Gamecocks with set point, leading 24-22.
The Cowgirls were able to rally again, staving off three set points from Jacksonville State. After a Hailey Zuroske kill tied things at 25-25, the final four points for the Cowgirls in the set came via attack error from the Gamecocks.
In the second set, JSU flipped the script on the Cowgirls as it rallied late in the frame, after trailing for most of the set. UW led 20-18 late in the second, but three-straight points from the Gamecocks gave them the lead at 21-20. After a kill from Jackie McBride tied the set at 22-22, JSU scored two of the final three points of the set to tie the match up at 1-1.
Midway through the third set, the Cowgirls were able to take control of the match, outscoring the Gamecocks 13-6 in the back half of the third. UW trailed 15-12 and 16-13 in the third set, before going on an impressive 8-1 run to take a 21-17 lead in the set and didn't look back, as the Cowgirls led the match the rest of the way.
During the Cowgirls' third set run to take control, KC McMahon and Naya Shimé had three and two kills, respectively, while Lydeke King combined for back-to-back blocks along with McMahon and Shimé to give them the four-point lead. JSU cut the Wyoming lead down to two, 21-19, but the Cowgirls were able to maintain its lead in the set and went to the fourth set with the lead.
The Cowgirls didn't trail in the fourth set and were able to stretch the lead to 21-15, late in the set. Three of UW's final four points in the match were thanks to JSU miscues, via attack and service errors.
After a slow start defensively, the Cowgirl defense picked up the pressure at the net in the last two sets, recording nine of their 12 blocks in the third and fourth sets. UW out-blocked the Gamecocks 12-8 for the match and held JSU to a .164 hitting percentage. The Cowgirls hit .331 in the victory.
McMahon and Zuroske led the way offensively, recording a match-high 16 kills each. The 16 kills were a career-high for Zuroske, as she hit an impressive .412 in the match, while McMahon hit .306. Faith Waitsman added 10 kills and hit .310.
Defensively, McBride led the way with six total blocks in the win, while King and Shimé had five each and McMahon added four total rejections. In the back row, libero Kaitlyn Gehler tied a season-high with 13 digs. Zuroske and Payton Chamberlain tallied eight and seven digs, respectively.
Chamberlain led the Cowgirls with a career-high 33 assists in the match and Kyra Slavik added 20. McBride and Zuroske had UW's two service aces in the morning.
To close the tournament, took care of business against host-Charleston Southern. Wyoming defeated the Bucs 25-18, 25-14, 25-27 and 25-14.
In the first set, UW found its footing early on after trailing 8-7 to begin the match. The Cowgirls scored four consecutive points to go up 11-8 and didn't look back from there in the opening set, and led by as many as eight points in the frame.
The second set brought a fast start out of the gate from the Cowgirls, as they led early on in the frame, 9-2. The Bucs would steadily cut into the Wyoming lead, whittling it down to an 11-9 margin later in the set. However from that point on, the Cowgirls would regain its steady grasp on the lead and closed the set on an impressive 14-5 run, to go up two sets to none.
In the third, CSU came out with renewed aggression, jumping out to a 12-8 lead in the set, forcing a Wyoming timeout. Out of the timeout, Charleston extended its lead to 14-9, before three consecutive points by the Cowgirls, forced a timeout by the Bucs at 14-12.
Out of the Charleston Southern timeout, the Bucs regained momentum by extending the lead back up to four at 16-12, but again the Cowgirls would respond with a 3-0 run, forcing CSU's last timeout of the set with the score at 16-15. After the third break in the set, the two teams began trading points before the Cowgirls were able to break an 18-18 tie with yet another quick three-point run to make it 21-18.
CSU wouldn't go away though and went on a run of its own to tie the score back up at 23-23, forcing UW's final timeout. Wyoming had match point out of the break at 24-23, but the Bucs were able fend off defeat and closed on a 4-1 run to win the third set, 27-25.
In the fourth, CSU carried some momentum over from its third set win, jumping out to an early 4-1 lead. But the Cowgirls got their act together soon after, scoring nine straight to take a 10-4 lead. After the Bucs took a timeout at 12-5, the Cowgirls just continued to pour it on from there, extending the lead to 20-10, before closing things out.
Shimé was one of two Cowgirls with double-figure kills in the win over Charleston, as she notched a team-high 11 kills and hit a match-best .529. McMahon had 10 while Waitsman chipped in with seven. UW hit .260 for the match, while the Bucs hit .115 as a team.
Slavik led Wyoming with 19 assists and also added six digs while Chamberlain had 14 and four, while also adding an ace. Gehler and Zuroske both tallied 12 digs to lead the way in the match. It was the fourth straight match with double-digit digs for Gehler.
McBride was a terror both at the net defensively and at the service line Friday afternoon. McBride, along with King, led the Cowgirls with seven total blocks in the win, while McBride also notched a career-best five service aces. Wyoming had nine aces as a team, which is a team-best on the season. UW out-blocked the Bucs 15-8 and also had a 9-7 edge in service aces.
Wyoming now shifts its focus to its second home tournament of the season as the Cowgirls welcome UC Santa Barbara, Northwestern and Missouri next weekend to Laramie for the UniWyo Invite.
-WYO-
