LARAMIE, Wyo. (Aug. 26, 2022) – The Wyoming Cowgirls opened the 2022 campaign with a pair of hard-fought home losses against quality opponents as UW lost in five sets to Wichita State after coming back from two sets down, losing 15-25, 22-25, 25-15, 31-29 and 8-15. The Cowgirls closed day one with a four-set defeat at the hands of Iowa State, 25-19, 20-25, 19-25 and 24-26.
Corin Carruth paced the Cowgirl offense in both matches Friday, tallying 15 kills of the bench and hitting .306 against the Shockers. Carruth followed that up with a career-high 23-kill outing against ISU and hit .432. Carruth also set a career-best with five total blocks against the Cyclones and chipped in with eight digs.
Against Wichita, KC McMahon and Naya Shimé each hit double-figure kills with 12 and 10, respectively. In her first action as a Cowgirl, Kasia Partyka recorded a pair of double-doubles on the day as she led the way with 45 assists and had 10 digs in the loss against WSU. She then followed that up with a 41-assist and 10-dig effort against Iowa State.
Hailey Zuroske, making the first two starts of her career at the libero spot, led Wyoming in both matches with 12 and 14, digs respectively.
The Cowgirls (0-2) were out-hit in the season-opener against Wichita State, as the Shockers hit .207 to Wyoming's .176. WSU also had an 8-5 edge in service aces and out-blocked the Cowgirls 11 to 7 in the contest. Against Iowa State, Wyoming hit .250 while the Cyclones hit .230, however the Cyclones had a big 10-3 advantage in the service game and also had a 9-6 edge in team blocks.
Tierney Barlow was also a bright spot for the Cowgirls in the two losses. The freshman had eight kills and hit .313 against Wichita State and then went for six kills on just 10 swings in the loss against Iowa State Friday night.
UW will look to rebound at day two of the Rumble in the Rockies Tournament with a tall task in 18th-ranked Creighton. The Cowgirls and Bluejays serve it up at 6 p.m., inside the UniWyo Sports Complex Saturday.
-WYO-
