The Wyoming Cowgirl Volleyball team (4-3 overall) opened up the Jayhawk invitational with a decisive three game win (30-25, 30-25, 30-23) against the Morehead State Eagles (4-4 overall) early in the day, and but fell in five games (40-38, 27-30, 25-30, 30-20, 13-15) against Kansas Jayhawks (6-3 overall) on Friday at the Jayhawk Invitational in Lawrence, Kansas.
Wyoming was led by Rachel Smith who finished with a team high 18 kills, along with adding eight digs and hit .350 (18-4-40) for the match. She was followed by Angie Hellbaum with nine kills and six digs, while Kayla Govier and Lauren Whitney each recorded eight kills. Carissa Lee led the way with 11 digs. The Cowgirls hit .314 (52-15-118) for the match and recorded four total team blocks.
The Eagles were led by Erin Peak who recorded a match high 20 kills along with ten digs and a .567 (20-3-30) hitting percentage. Amber Campbell added ten kills and a .360 (10-1-25) hitting percentage. Morehead State hit .197 (41-21-107) for the match.
“This was a very good win for us today, especially in three games” said Pat Stangle. “We had nice all around play from several individuals but I was especially pleased with the play of Rachel Smith, Angie Hellbaum and Kayla Govier. Now we get ready for a good Kansas team.”
The scoring was back and forth in the early going of the first game but with it all even at 6-6, the Cowgirls scored six of the next seven points to open up a five point lead, 12-7. They extended their advantage to seven, 16-9, but the Eagles battled back and went on a 6-2 run to pull within two, 18-16. UW maintained their composure despite a relentless Morehead State team and continued to hold on to a slight lead. With it 22-20 in favor of the Cowgirls, they would run off six of the next seven points to increase the lead by six, 27-21. They would hold on to that and take the first game by the score of 30-25
In game two, Morehead State got on a roll and took the early 11-6 advantage. The Cowgirls responded by scoring five straight points to even it all up at 11. After the Eagles scored the next point, UW went on a small 7-2 run to open up an 18-15 lead. MSU closed the gap and the teams played pretty evenly. With it all tied up at 22 all, the Cowgirls answered with an 8-3 scoring run to win the game 30-25.
Out of the break and in to the third game, the Eagles started off strong as they took a 12-9 lead. The Cowgirls battled back and scored ten of the next 13 points to gain a five-point advantage, 20-15. Morehead State tried to battle their way in to the match and pulled to within four, 22-18, unfortunately Wyoming closed things out on an 8-5 run to win the game 30-23 and the match 3-0.
It was a battle in the second match of the day for the Cowgirls against the host school Kansas Jayhawks. They were led by senior Angie Hellbaum who finished with a career high 33 kills and 12 digs while hitting .362 (33-8-69) for the match. Rachel Smith finished with a season high 28 kills along with 15 digs. Lauren Scott chipped in 11 kills followed by Kayla Govier with eight. Five Cowgirls finished the night with double figure digs led by Carissa Lee. She had a season high 28 followed by Lauren Whitney and Rachel Smith with 15. Angie Hellbaum and Tasha Weishahn each finished with 12. The Cowgirls hit .218 (91-40-234) for the match and had seven total blocks.
Kansas had four players in double-figures led by Brittany Williams. She had 13 kills while hitting .571 (13-1-21). Emily Brown and Jenna Kaiser each had 12 kills and Caitlin Mahoney chipped in 11. The Jayhawks hit .230 (69-24-196) and had 15 total team blocks.
“We had a great team effort in this match,” said head coach Pat Stangle. “Kansas is a good team and this was a great environment for us to play in. We worked on a lot of things and got better tonight.”
It was extremely tight throughout the beginning of game one as neither team gained a sizeable lead. With it tied up at 15 all, Kansas scored four straight to go up 19-15. Wyoming went on a small run to pull within two, but the Jayhawks continued to maintain their lead. Kansas seemed to be in control up 25-20 until the Cowgirls scored six of the next seven to tie it up at 26. The two traded points until Wyoming earned game point 30-29 which was evened up at 30 all. It seemed liked the game would never end as neither team could not string a consistent amount of points together. With Kansas up 38-37 and with game point, the Cowgirls scored the final three points to take game one, 40-38.
Kansas took a 6-3 lead in game two. Wyoming answered with a 6-1 run to go up 9-7. The Jayhawks quickly tied it up and went ahead 12-10. They would extend the lead to six, 20-14. The Cowgirls battled back to within one, 22-21. Unfortunately, they couldn’t overcome the deficit and fell 30-27.
It was all Jayhawks in game three as they jumped out 7-2. Wyoming battled back to tie it up at 8-8, but a Kansas 5-1 run put them up 13-8. They continued to lead until the Cowgirls eventually tied it up at 16-16. Unfortunately, Wyoming could never pull any closer than two points as the Jayhawks came away with a 30-25 win in the game.
Wyoming stormed out in the fourth game and dominated with an 11-5 lead. They extended their lead to double figures with a 9-5 run, 20-10. The Cowgirls lead was never in jeopardy as they took the fourth game 30-20 in order to force a fifth game.
Unfortunately, the Jayhawks came out on a mission as they went up by a score of 10-4 which they extended to 12-6. The Cowgirls battled back and pulled to within one, 12-11. In the end, Wyoming would fall 15-13 and 3-2 in the match.
Wyoming will close out play at the Jayhawk Invitational tomorrow morning against the Saint Peter’s (NJ) Peahens. The match is set to begin at 8:00 a.m. MT.
Lawrence, Kansas (Sept. 8, 2007) --The Wyoming Cowgirl Volleyball team (5-3 overall) wrapped up the Jayhawk invitational with four game victory (28-30, 30-21, 30-18, 30-26) against the St. Peter’s College Peahens (2-10 overall), on Saturday morning, in Lawrence.
Wyoming was led by Rachel Smith who finished with a team high 19 kills and 12 digs. She was followed by Angie Hellbaum with 13 kills, 14 digs and two block assists, while setter Tasha Weishahn had 28 assists and six kills. Carissa Lee led the way with 27 digs. The Cowgirls hit .206 (58-25-160) for the match.
The Peahens were led by Kim Mendoza who had 13 kills and 17 digs, while Stephanie Phillips added ten kills and six total blocks. St. Peter’s hit .151 (49-24-166) and out blocked the Cowgirls eight to four.
“This was a gut match for us,” said head coach Pat Stangle. “It was one of those things we had to grind through because of the tough five game match last night. We were a little sluggish, but it was a good win even though we had to get through a lot of adversity.”
The Peahens took a slight 7-4 lead in the beginning of the first game. Wyoming tied it up at nine all, but St. Peters scored three of the next four points to go up 12-10. The Cowgirls responded with a 9-4 run to take their first significant lead, 19-16. Unfortunately SPC wouldn’t go away as the evened things up at 20. UW jumped out once again to take a 25-23 advantage, but the Peahens scored the last 7 of 12 points to win the first game 30-28.
Wyoming came out fired up in the second game and took a five point lead, 10-5. The Peahens battled back and pulled to within two, 12-10. The Cowgirls went on a 9-3 run to regain a seven point advantage, 21-14, which they extended to ten, 28-18, and went on to win 30-21.
The third game was all Cowgirls as well as they jumped out to a double-figure lead 12-2. It was never close as they won the game 30-18 and a 2-1 lead in the match.
St. Peter’s responded in game three by taking a 7-4 lead in the early going. The Cowgirls evened it up at seven all and took a two point lead, 9-7. The Peahens went on a run to make it 16-16. After that it was all Cowgirls as they would never relinquish the lead to win the game 30-26 and the match 3-1.
