LARAMIE, Wyo. (Aug. 28, 2024) – The Wyoming Cowgirl volleyball team officially begins the 2024 campaign this weekend with a trip to the state of Nebraska for the Omaha Invitational where they will play a pair of matches against 2023 NCAA Tournament teams.
Wyoming opens the season with a neutral-site matchup against Washington State at 1 p.m., Mountain Time Friday, August 30. The Cougars, who are receiving votes in the Preseason AVCA Top-25 Poll, are picked to finish sixth in the West Coast Conference preseason poll. Wazzu hosted a regional in last season's NCAA Tournament and advanced to the third round of the tourney where it lost to 4th-ranked Pittsburgh on the road. Washington State is led by first-year Head Coach Korey Schroeder.
The Cowgirls close the Omaha Invite against host-school Omaha at 3 p.m., Saturday. The Mavericks are entering their sixth season under Head Coach Matt Buttermore. The Mavs went 15-14 last season but went 12-4 in Summit League play and won the league's postseason tournament, qualifying for the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history as a Division I school. Omaha, who was picked to repeat as Summit League champs, returns its top three hitters from a season ago.
The Cowgirls return 12 student-athletes off last season's squad that went 22-10 overall and made Wyoming's first trip to a postseason tournament since 2019. The Cowgirls advanced to the Great Eight round of the NIVC in 2023. It also marked the first time since the 2019 season that the Brown & Gold eclipsed the 20-win mark. UW was picked sixth in the Preseason Mountain West Poll.
Among the returners for the Cowgirls are All-Mountain West Team honoree and the league's leader in assists, Kasia Partyka, who's 10.74 assists per set ranked 12th in the country. Those 10.74 assists per set are the 10th-best assist mark, nationally, returning this season. Partyka's 1,299 total assists a season ago were the eighth-most in the nation and the seventh-most in a single season in program history. Honorable Mention All-MW honoree Rylee Schulz also returns to the 2024 squad after she ranked fifth in the league kills per set with 3.28 and was ninth averaging 3.77 points per.
Also returning in 2024 are Macey Boggs, Skylar Erickson, Sierra Grizzle, Sarah Holcomb, Paige Lauterwasser, Kayla Mazzocca, Abi Milby, Kendal Rivera, Sonte Stewart and Evelyn Udezue. Erickson and Grizzle appeared in every match last season for the Cowgirls while Holcomb led the Mountain West in both total blocks (146) and blocks per set (1.27). Holcomb's .320 hitting percentage in 2023 was ninth-best in the conference.
New to the Wyoming roster this season are a quintet of freshman in Rya Fingerlin (Parker, Colo.), Reagan Sharp (Southlake, Texas), Maddy Stucky (Laramie), Addy Thorington (Powell) and Claire Wagstaff (Fort Collins, Colo.) and a pair of transfers in Jordan Sandy (Nevada) and Emma Winter (West Virginia).
Both matches this weekend will be streamed live. The match against Washington State will be on Sidearm Sports HERE while the Omaha match will air on the Summit League Network HERE for a small subscription fee.
-WYO-
