BOULDER, Colo. (Sept. 14, 2024) – The Wyoming Cowgirl volleyball team climbed back from two sets to none down Saturday afternoon, but couldn't complete the comeback all the way, falling in five sets to UC Irvine. The match, which was the second for UW at the CU Buffs Invitational had set scores of 25-22, 25-21, 24-26, 18-25 and 15-11.

After dropping the first two sets to open the match, the Cowgirls (5-2) showed their resiliency in the third set, rallying from 18-12 to win the set. Trailing 22-20, Wyoming closed the third on a 6-2 run to force a fourth. In the fourth set, the Cowgirls went wire-to-wire, sans a first point in the set from the Anteaters. UW turned an 18-16 lead, into a 25-18 set victory thanks to a 7-2 run to close. In the fifth, the Cowgirls just ran out of gas as UC Irvine led for much of the fifth and held on late.

Paige Lauterwasser tied a career-high with 20 kills in the match while hitting .378 and also notching a double-double with 12 digs. Lauterwasser was the only Cowgirl with double-digit kills. A trio of Cowgirls had nine in the loss in Kayla Mazzocca, Kasia Partyka and Emma Winter. Mazzocca ended up just one kill shy of her first-career double-double as she tallied a career-high 10 blocks (three solo, seven assisted) against UC Irvine. Partyka, meanwhile, added six blocks of her own while Sarah Holcomb added five total.

Digs wise, Partyka led the Cowgirl defense with 15 while Kendal Rivera recorded a career-best 13. Sierra Grizzle joined Lauterwasser with 12 from her libero spot. Partyka led UW with 47 assists on the day.

Despite the loss, UW as a team hit .228 in the contest while holding UC Irvine to just a .175 clip. Wyoming also had a 16-11 advantage in total blocks and had eight service aces to Irvine's two. Wyoming did commit 16 serving errors in the match while the Anteaters had just five.

Wyoming closes the Buffs Invite at 1 p.m., Sunday afternoon against host Colorado.

-WYO-