LARAMIE, Wyo. (Aug. 9, 2022) – The 2022 Wyoming Cowgirl volleyball team opened fall camp Tuesday with its first practices in preparation for the upcoming season. The Cowgirls will have four days with two practices each day, before transitioning to once daily the rest of camp and once the fall semester starts.
UW enters year 10 under Head Coach Chad Callihan and will feature a lot of new faces in 2022 as the Cowgirls welcome in eight newcomers to this year's squad. A total of four freshman and four transfers joined this season. Two of the Wyoming transfers (Macey Boggs and Kasia Partyka) transferred in for the Spring 2022 semester.
The Cowgirls return eight student-athletes from last season's squad that went 16-14 overall and 8-10 in league play. 2019 All-Mountain West performer KC McMahon returns for her Covid-Senior season after leading UW last year with 316 kills and 358 points. McMahon was 10th in league play last season averaging 3.01 kills and 3.45 points per set. Joining McMahon on the attack is Naya Shimé, who averaged a team-best 2.99 kills per set in 2021, which ranked 10th-best in the Mounatin West. Shimé also finished the conference season fourth in the league averaging 3.55 kills per set last season.
Corin Carruth, Teresa Garza, Lydeke King, Kayla Mazzocca, Zoee Smith and Hailey Zuroske all return in 2022 as well, after seeing significant action in 2021. Garza and King played in 47 and 71 sets, respectively a season ago while Zuroske was one of four Cowgirls to break 100 sets played in 2021. Zuroske, who has been a fixture in the UW lineup each of the last three seasons, has appeared in 74 matches during her career. Last season, Zuroske continued to be Wyoming's jack-of-all-trades, as she was fourth on the team with 158 kills, ranked second with 223 digs (2.17 per set) and had 30 service aces, which ranked second on the squad as well.
Boggs and Partyka, who joined the Cowgirls in the Spring, will both contend for the open setter spot for UW. Boggs spent her first two seasons at Western Nebraska CC, where she was the Region IX Setter of the Year and named to the South All-Region Team. Boggs was also an Academic All-American at Western. Partyka, meanwhile, spent 2021 at Long Beach State where she appeared in 11 matches with eight starts while averaging nearly eight assists per set, tallying 279 for the season. Partyka also added 21 kills and 1.51 digs per set at LBSU.
Ashton Reese (Colorado Mesa) and Kendal Rivera (South Carolina State) also transferred in this season. Joining the transfers are freshman newcomers, Tierney Barlow (Colorado Springs, Colo.), Skylar Erickson (Caldwell, Idaho), Sarah Holcomb (Murphy, Texas) and Rylee Schulz (Carlsbad, Calif.).
The Cowgirls will play host to 15 regular season home contests, including a pair of tournaments. Cowgirl fans can catch their first looks at the squad August 19 and 20, as UW hosts its annual Brown and Gold Scrimmage at 6 p.m., on the 19th followed by a 5 p.m., exhibition against CSU Pueblo the 20th. Both events are open to the public. Wyoming opens the 2022 regular season Aug. 26 and 27 with the Rumble in the Rockies Tournament. The Cowgirls welcome Creighton, Iowa State and Wichita State to Laramie for the tourney. UW's first match will be at noon Aug. 26 against Wichita State.
The Brown and Gold will also be hosting a tournament to close non-conference play, September 15 and 16 when Idaho, Morehead State and Nicholls State come to town for the UniWyo Invite. The Cowgirls open MW play Sept. 20 with a trip South to face Border Rival Colorado State at 7 p.m. Wyoming's home-opener for league play transpires Sept. 24 at 1 p.m., as UNLV comes to town.
Season tickets are available right now for Cowgirl volleyball, starting at $65 for public general admission and $35 for children between the ages of 3-12. Single-match tickets for general admission are $10 for adults 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, open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m., to 4:30 p.m.
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