LARAMIE, Wyo. (Nov. 18, 2023) – The Wyoming Cowgirls closed-out their season in style Saturday night in front of a sold-out crowd in the UniWyo Sport Complex. The Cowgirls swept New Mexico, 25-16, 27-25 and 25-19 to send their three seniors, Corin Carruth, Holly Eastridge and Zoee Smith out with the win on Senior Night.
Wyoming closes the season at 20-9 overall and 9-9 in the Mountain West. Unfortunately, with Boise State's win earlier in the day at Fresno State, the Cowgirls were eliminated from qualifying for the Mountain West Tournament next week in Las Vegas.
The Cowgirls came out firing on Saturday, closing the first set on an 11-1 run to turn a 15-14 deficit into a first-set victory to go ahead early in the match. In the second, UW rallied from as many as four points down to win the set in extra points. The Cowgirls trailed late, 23-21 and eventually pushed ahead with three-straight points. When it was all tied at 25-25, Wyoming scored back-to-back points to push the Lobos (18-11, 10-8 MW) to the brink.
The third set was tightly-contested throughout and Wyoming found itself down, 16-15. But a 5-1 run from the Cowgirls put them in the lead 20-16. From there, UNM could only get to within three points before three consecutive points from the Cowgirls closed out the match and the set.
Overall, Wyoming registered 20 more kills (52-32) than the Lobos and hit .289 on the night while holding New Mexico to just a .109 hitting percentage. UW also was big at the net defensively, recording a 12-7 advantage in blocks. New Mexico had the two service aces in the match.
Rylee Schulz paced the Cowgirl attack with 11 kills and hit .304. Schulz also notched her eighth double-double of the season, as she added 10 digs. Tierney Barlow also finished with double-digit kills as she had 10 and hit .333. Paige Lauterwasser added nine and hit .350 while Sarah Holcomb added eight.
Holcomb, the league's leading blocker, added to that total in the win as she tied a career-high with nine rejections. Kasia Partyka added five block assists while Barlow and Carruth had five and three, respectively. Partyka also had her 10th double-double in 2023 as she added 10 digs to go along with her match-high 42 assists.
In the back row, Sierra Grizzle led the way with 11 digs. Zoee Smith added nine in her first-career start while Skylar Erickson added five.
The 20 overall wins in 2023 are the most for Wyoming since 2019, as are the nine Mountain West victories. UW ends the season posting an 11-3 record at home.
-WYO-
