LARAMIE, Wyo. (Sept. 19, 2024) – The Wyoming Cowgirl volleyball team opened UniWyo Invite play, as well as their 2024 home slate in convincing fashion Thursday night inside the UniWyo Sports Complex. The Cowgirls took care of business against Coppin State, sweeping the Eagles 25-14, 25-14 and 25-21.
Wyoming (7-2) cruised in the first two sets Thursday night, trailing just once, at 1-0 in the second set. In set one, Wyoming turned an 11-7 lead into a double-digit advantage, taking a 22-12 lead thanks to an 11-5 scoring run. From there, the Cowgirls closed out the set to jump ahead early in the match. In the second set, UW opened up a big lead early before the Eagles (4-9) would tie things up at 10-10. From there though, the Cowgirls went on a 9-1 run to take a commanding 19-11 lead and then closed out the second on a 5-2 run.
In the third, Coppin State kept it close early before a big Wyoming run made the score 18-11. The Eagles would not go down without a fight, however, battling back to eventually make the deficit just one, 21-20 after a timeout. The Cowgirls would respond when tested though, ending the set and the match with a 4-1 surge.
Wyoming hit .287 as a team for the match and opened Thursday night by hitting .484 in the first set. The Cowgirls held Coppin State to just a .026 hitting mark in the contest. UW had 12 blocks on the night while not getting rejected by the Eagles once. Wyoming also had one more service ace than Coppin (5-4) and had a 43-26 advantage in kills on the night.
Individually, Paige Lauterwasser was the only Cowgirl to finish in double figures for kills as Wyoming had a balanced attack Thursday evening. Lauterwasser notched 13 kill and hit over .300 in the win. Emma Winter had eight and hit .333 while both middle blocks, Sarah Holcomb and Kayla Mazzocca tallied seven kills with Mazzocca hitting .438. Mazzocca also led the Cowgirls with nine blocks in the win.
Defensively, Skylar Erickson and Sierra Grizzle each had double-digit digs with 11 and 17, respectively. Kasia Partyka, meanwhile, led the way with 35 assists on the night. Partyka also added eight digs and three blocks. Lauterwasser led the UW serving attack with two aces on the night.
Thursday was just night one of the three-day tournament. Wyoming will play UAlbany at 6:30 p.m., Friday night to close day two tomorrow.
-WYO-
