Cowgirls Drop Match to Washington St.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind.  – The University of Wyoming Cowgirl volleyball team dropped a tough four-set loss (16-25, 25-21, 14-25, 20-25) to Pac-12 member Washington State on Saturday at the Purdue Mortar Board Premier.

UW will be back in action on Monday at 6 p.m., for its home opener against North Dakota State in the UniWyo Sports Complex.

Sophomore Emily Lewis led the Cowgirls with a season-high 12 kills against the Cougars (2-1 overall). Her 12 kills were just one off of her career-high wearing the Brown and Gold. Senior Laura Beach was the other Cowgirl with double-digit kills, as she posted ten for UW (0-3 overall).

Junior Lily Austin tied her career-high in digs with 17, as senior Kayla Slofkiss recorded 16 for UW, in addition to her eight kills.Austin was named to the All-Tournament team. She played in all ten sets and led UW with 42 digs (4.20 per set) on the weekend.Also on the defensive end, Slofkiss and Reed Copeland led the team with three total blocks each. Sophomore Mattison DeGarmo also chipped in eight kills, as fellow sophomore Copeland had five against WSU.

Senior Courtney Chacon found herself with a majority of the setting responsibilities against Washington State. She dished out 34 assists during the match, which is not only a season-best but also tops her high of 31 of last season. Chacon also had eight digs and one kill for Wyoming.

The first set was tied at 12, before WSU went on a 13-4 run to take the first stanza. Lewis and Slofkiss each recorded three kills to open the match. Austin was the team-leader with five digs, while Chacon had her first seven assists to begin the day.

UW got off to a hot start in the second set. Led by Chacon, who had the first service ace of the day and Beach, who recorded her second block of the match, Wyoming recorded five straight points to make it 7-2 before Washington State called its first timeout. Slofkiss, Beach and Lewis each had three kills in the second frame, while Chacon had nine of her 34 assists and also five digs.

During the third stanza, DeGarmo had a team-high five kills, as Chacon recorded eight assists. Slofkiss had six digs, before Lewis had four kills in the final frame, in addition to Chacon’s ten assists.

As stated above, UW’s Monday evening match with NDSU will begin at 6 p.m. in the UniWyo Sports Complex. Live stats and a video stream of the game will be available through GoWyo.com, and will also be available for viewing on the Mountain West Network at TheMW.com and on Campus Insiders at CampusInsiders.com.

Cowgirls Fall Short Against Two Ranked Opponents

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The University of Wyoming Cowgirl volleyball team put a challenge into two ranked opponents but came up empty in a pair of matches to open the season on Friday at the Purdue Mortar Board Premier.

The Cowgirls were defeated by 20th-ranked Purdue Boilermakers in straight sets (27-29, 16-25, 17-25) to begin the tournament. Wyoming then lost to No. 24 Kentucky (1-1) in three sets (19-25, 21-25, 10-25) in its afternoon contest.

In the opening match of 2016, senior Kayla Slofkiss lead the Cowgirls with eight kills. Sophomore’s Emily Lewis and Reed Copeland each added six for UW, while Mattison DeGarmo recorded five. Senior Laura Beach chipped in four kills, as freshman Tara Traphagan had three in her Cowgirl debut.

Senior Courtney Chacon and junior Dani Westfall each passed out double-digit assists against the Boilermakers. Chacon had 22 while Westfall added ten for the Cowgirls. Junior Lily Austin had a team-high 16 digs against the Boilermakers, while Slofkess recorded 11.

The first set against Purdue featured a back and forth battle with 12 ties and three lead changes. Purdue found themselves with a 12-10 advantage after Wyoming rushed out to a 6-2 lead. UW had a .255 attacking effort, compared to .267 of Purdue. Slofkiss had a team-best three kills in the second set, as well as two of her total three blocks. Chacon dished out four assists to lead UW, as Traphagan led Wyoming with all three of her kills in the third set.

During Wyoming’s second match of 2016, Slofkiss led the Cowgirls in kills, as she posted seven against the Wildcats. Additionally, she recorded a season-high 13 digs to lead the team as well. Beach, Lewis and Copeland each recorded five kills for UW, while Traphagan again totaled three.

Chacon and Westfall once again ran the offense for the Cowgirls and had 12 and 11 assists, respectively. Austin was one dig away from double-digits for the second time today, while Beach had a team-high two blocks.

Lewis had all five of her kills in the first set against UK, while Slofkiss and Beach added two apiece. Copeland and Slofkiss each hammered home three kills in the second set, as Chacon and Westfall each dished out four assists. Slofkiss had a team-high five digs in the final set and Chacon recorded three assists for UW.

After the two matches today, Beach has now started 76 consecutive matches, which dates back to October of her freshman season. Chacon continues to climb the all-time assists list for Wyoming. She recorded her 2,371st assist in the first set of the day to claim the eighth spot on the all-time list. After today she has a total of 2,392 career assists.