Albuquerque, N.M. (Sept. 21, 2007) -- The Wyoming Cowgirl Volleyball team (6-5 overall, 1-2 in the MWC) fell in three games (27-30, 25-30, 32-34) against the New Mexico Lobos (11-3, 2-1 in the MWC) on Friday night in Albuquerque.
Senior Rachel Smith led the way for the Cowgirls with 13 kills, along with six digs and a .178 (13-5-45) hitting percentage. She was followed by Angie Hellbaum with nine kills and nine digs, and Lauren Whitney six kills. Wyoming hit .167 (42-20-132) and had six blocks.
Jeanne Fairchild recorded a match high 17 kills, while hitting .270 (17-17-37). Lisa Meeter followed with 14 kills and 16 digs, and libero Gayle Tripp finished with 20 digs. The Lobos hit .216 (56-26-139) and had eight total team blocks.
The two teams traded points back and forth in the early going of the first game. With it 7-5 in favor of the Cowgirls, New Mexico went on an 8-4 run to take a two point advantage 13-11. Wyoming evened it up at 14 all and then it continued to be close as neither team gained a lead larger than a point. Finally, the Lobos scored the next six of nine to take a three point advantage, 26-23, but UW pulled to within one, 26-25. Unfortunately that would be as close as they would get as UNM went on a 4-2 run to close out the game 30-27.
Game two started off very similar as it was even through the first 18 points at 9-9. The Lobos took the scoring edge as they went on a 6-3 run to open up a 15-12 lead. They extended that lead to seven points, 21-14, as the Cowgirls struggled to score points. With the score 25-15 in favor of New Mexico, the Cowgirls battled back and even held off four game points, but came up shorts 30-25 in the game.
The Cowgirls took a very early 3-1 lead to begin game three, but the Lobos responded with a 5-1 run to take a two point advantage, 6-4. Wyoming responded by scoring the next eight of twelve, 12-9. New Mexico pulled to within one, 12-11, which was answered by a 5-2 scoring run by UW to make it a 17-13 game. The Lobos battled back again and made it a 17-16 and again Wyoming gained the upper hand at 24-19. The game seemed to be in hand for the Cowgirls, but with the score 28-25 in their favor New Mexico made another run at them. They held off a game point at 29-28 and scored the next six of nine to win the game, 34-32, and the match 3-0.
Wyoming will open up play at home next week as they host two conference matches. They welcome the BYU Cougars, on Friday, Sept. 28, and the Utah Utes, on Saturday, Sept. 29. Both matches are set to begin at 7:00 p.m. in the UniWyo Sports Complex.
Laramie, Wyo. (Sept. 28, 2007) -- The Wyoming Cowgirl Volleyball team (6-6 overall, 1-3 in the MWC) fell in three games (28-30, 29-31, 21-30) against the 23rd ranked BYU Cougars (9-4, 2-2 in the MWC) on Friday night in Laramie.
“I thought especially in game two when we were up 25-20, we made a couple of bad decisions,” said head coach Pat Stangle. “Unfortunately it turned the tide and from that point on we got a little inconsistent. We made a lot of mental errors and we haven’t done that this season.”
Two Cowgirls finished the night in double-figures led by senior Angie Hellbaum. She finished with 13 kills and five digs. Rachel Smith followed with 12 kills, while Lauren Scott added eight. Libero Carissa Lee finished with a team high 17 digs. Wyoming hit .177 (46-24-124) for the match.
BYU was led by Erica Lott who record a team high 13 kills, along with six digs. Chelsea Goodman added 12 kills followed by Rachel Dyer with 11. As a team, the Cougars hit .315 (49-15-108) and out blocked the Cowgirls 11-5.
Wyoming took an early 4-1 lead to begin game one, which was answered with a 5-1 run by the Cougars to go up by one, 6-5. The Cowgirls scored the next five of seven to regain a 10-8 advantage. BYU responded with a 6-2 run of their own to go back up by two, 14-12, and then the two teams traded points back and forth. With it all tied up at 19 all, the Cougars went on a 6-3 run to go up three, 25-22. The Cowgirls battled back and pulled to within one, 27-26 unfortunately BYU scored the final three of five points to win the game 30-28.
In game two, the Cowgirls once again took a 5-3 advantage, but BYU tied it up at six all. Wyoming responded with five straight points to make it 11-6. The Cougars scored the next two points, but the Cowgirls answered with the next seven of ten points to extend the lead to 17-11. BYU responded again with a 5-2 run to pull within three, 19-16. This time Wyoming kept their composure and regained a five point lead, 25-20, unfortunately BYU had some other ideas and scored five straight to even it up at 25 all. The Cowgirls scored the next two, but the Cougars gained game point at 29-28. Wyoming held off two of those but fell 31-29.
BYU jumped out in game three by a score of 6-1. The Cowgirls responded with a 5-1 run to pull within one, 7-6, unfortunately the Cougars answered with a 12-3 scoring run to extend their lead to double-figures, 19-9. In the end the Cowgirls couldn’t forge a come back as they fell 30-21 in the game and 3-0 in the match.
Wyoming will close out the weekend tomorrow night against the Utah Utes beginning at 7:00 p.m. in the UniWyo Sports Complex.
