LARAMIE — The Wyoming Cowgirl volleyball team will host postseason play for the second consecutive year this week as part of the National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC). The Cowgirls will welcome Idaho State, Utah Valley, and Washington State to the UniWyo Sports Complex for a four-team pod Thursday and Friday.
Wyoming will face Idaho State in the late match Thursday at 7 p.m. MT. Utah Valley and Washington State will square off earlier in the day at 4 p.m. MT. The winners of Thursday’s matches will meet Friday at 6 p.m. MT for a spot in the tournament’s next round.
The Cowgirls (15-12) have been idle since their regular-season finale on Nov. 23, when they defeated Nevada in dominant fashion. Wyoming allowed just 29 points across the final three sets, winning the match in five. The Cowgirls hit .252 as a team while holding Nevada to a .064 hitting percentage.
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Offensively, Paige Lauterwasser led Wyoming with 20 kills while hitting .375. Claire Wagstaff added 10 kills with a .353 hitting percentage. Defensively, Sarah Holcomb and Kayla Mazzocca were forces at the net, combining for 22 blocks. Holcomb set a career-high with 14 blocks, while Mazzocca added eight. Wagstaff also notched a career-best with nine blocks. Wyoming’s 23 total team blocks were just half a block shy of tying the program’s five-set match record.
Holcomb earned Mountain West Defensive Player of the Week honors for her efforts, marking the second straight season she received the award in the final week of the regular season.
Three Cowgirls earned All-Mountain West honors last week. Lauterwasser and Kasia Partyka were named to the All-Mountain West Team, with Partyka earning the honor for the second consecutive year. Holcomb received Honorable Mention recognition.
Lauterwasser finished the season ranked seventh in the conference in kills per set (3.44) and eighth in points per set (3.76). She recorded 12 matches with double-digit kills, including three with 20 or more. During conference play, Lauterwasser posted six double-doubles and averaged 2.07 digs per set while hitting .235.
Holcomb ended the regular season second in the league in blocks per set (1.41), narrowly trailing UNLV’s Rheanna Deen-Jackson (1.42). Holcomb also ranked fifth in the Mountain West with a .376 hitting percentage, averaging 2.07 kills and over three points per set.
The Cowgirls will be making their fifth appearance in the NIVC.
Idaho State enters the tournament led by three All-Big Sky honorees. Aliyah Sopoʻaga and Jaydin Watts earned First Team honors, while Jamie Streit was named to the Second Team for the second consecutive season. Sopoʻaga averages 9.73 assists per set and directs a Bengals offense that is hitting .253 as a team. Watts has tallied 227 kills and 156 blocks in 2024 while hitting .326. Streit leads Idaho State with 348 kills, averaging 2.95 per set. The Bengals are 8-3 in true road matches this season.
