Laramie, Wyo. (Sept. 29, 2007) -- The Wyoming Cowgirl Volleyball team (6-7 overall, 1-4 in the MWC) lost in four games (30-26, 30-32, 25-30, 30-32) against Utah Utes (6-7, 3-2 in the MWC) on Saturday night in Laramie.
“We were in the match and had chances to win,” said head coach Pat Stangle. “I would rather be in it and competitive with a chance to win than not. We have a few things we need to work on and get better at this week. Utah is a good team. They were in the Top 10 much of last season and have played several top teams this season, so they weren’t going to come in and get rattled.”
Three Cowgirls finished the night in double-figures led by senior Angie Hellbaum. She recorded 19 kills, 11 digs and hit .244 (19-9-41). Rachel Smith also had a double-double with 15 kills and 12 digs, while Lauren Scott added 11 kills. Wyoming hit .193 (67-33-176) and out blocked the Utes 11-10 for the match.
For the Utes, Kate Robison and Kathryn Haynie each finished with 15 kills, while Haynie added 13 digs. Lori Baird followed with 13 while Karolina Bartkowiak added 12. Utah hit .217 (64-28-166) for the match.
The scoring went back and forth in the early part of game one until Utah took a slight lead, 6-4. Wyoming came back with a 6-3 scoring run to take their first lead of the game, 10-9, which they increased to five points, 18-13. After the Utes scored a point, the Cowgirls scored the next seven of twelve to extend the lead to seven, 25-18. Utah battled back with a 6-1 scoring run to pull within two 26-24. UW kept their composure and came away with a 30-26 win.
Utah stormed out in game two by taking a commanding 10-1 lead. The Cowgirls responded with a 6-1 run to pull within four, 11-7, but three straight points by Utah make it a seven point game 14-7. The Cowgirls would score a couple of points and then Utah answered with a 6-3 run to extend the lead to double-figures 20-10. Wyoming wouldn’t give up as they battled back to make it a four point game, 20-16. Unfortunately the Utes quickly extended it back to a six point game, 24-18, but once again Wyoming fought back and pulled even at 25. The Utes scored the next two points, but the Cowgirls scored four of the next five to earn game point at 29-28.
After Wyoming scored the first two points of game three, Utah responded with a 6-1 scoring run to go up 6-3. The Cowgirls answered back scoring the next six of ten to pull within one, 10-9. The Utes continued to maintain a small lead until five straight points game them a 21-14 advantage. Wyoming again responded by scoring five of seven to pull within four, 23-19. Unfortunately they couldn’t’ overcome the Utah deficit as they fell 30-25 in the game and 2-1 in the match.
Utah went up 3-1 to start off the fourth game, but Wyoming scored four straight to take a 5-3 lead. After the Utes tied it up at five all the two teams traded the next 12 points to make it an 11-11 game. Utah scored the next three points to gain a 14-11 advantage, but the Cowgirls evened it up and took a 17-16 lead. They also seemed to gain some momentum with an 8-5 run to go up 25-21. Utah battled back to tie it up at 26 all, but the Cowgirls responded with three unanswered to earn game point at 29-26. Unfortunately, the Utes rallied, and ran off six of the final seven points to win the game 32-30 and the match 3-1.
Wyoming will be back out on the road for two matches against UNLV, on Thursday, Oct. 4, and the San Diego State Aztecs, on Saturday, Oct. 6.
Las Vegas, Nev. (Oct. 4, 2007) -- The Wyoming Cowgirl Volleyball team (6-8 overall, 1-5 in the MWC) fell in three straight games (26-30, 17-30, 13-30) against UNLV Rebels (12-3, 3-2 in the MWC) on Thursday night in Laramie.
“We really struggled as a team tonight,” said head coach Pat Stangle. “UNLV is a good team and really exposed a lot of our weaknesses tonight.”
Angie Hellbaum led the way for the Cowgirls with 11 kills and nine digs, while hitting .219 (11-4-32). Rachel Smith followed with nine kills and seven digs as Lauren Scott added six kills. Wyoming hit just .119 (39-23-135) for the match.
The Rebels were led by Jessica Walters with 13 kills along with a .476 (13-3-210 hitting percentage. Lauren Miramontes recorded 11 kills, seven digs and a .526 (11-1-19) hitting percentage. Erin Greenwood added nine kills followed by Maria Aladjova with eight. UNLV hit .351 (52-12-114) for the match and out blocked the Cowgirls ten to three.
The Cowgirls jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the early going of game one. They continued to maintain a two or three point lead until a 5-2 run by the Rebels evened it up at ten all. Wyoming scored the next point to go back up but UNLV scored the next two straight to take a 12-11 lead. Over the next several points each team traded points until the Rebels gained a 17-15 advantage. The Cowgirls evened it up at 18 unfortunately UNLV scored seven of eleven to make it a four point game, 25-21. Despite playing even the rest of the way, Wyoming came up short 30-26.
It was fairly even in the second game until the Rebels took a three point lead 7-4. They would extend their lead to nine points, 16-7, with a 9-3 scoring run. The Cowgirls scored the next three straight points to make it 16-10, unfortunately UNLV scored five of the next six to go up by ten, 21-11. The game was never really close as the Cowgirls were outscored 9-6 the remainder of the way as the Rebels took the game 30-17.
The third game was dominated by the Rebels as they went up by a score of 9-2. After the Cowgirls scored a couple of points UNLV took over the game going on a 12-4 run to open up the lead 23-8. It didn’t fair much better the rest of the way for Wyoming as the Rebels ran away with the game 30-13 and the match 3-0.
Wyoming will be back in action against the San Diego State Aztecs, on Saturday, Oct. 6, in San Diego, Calif. The match is slated to begin at 3:00 p.m. MT.
