Laramie, Wyo. (Oct. 19, 2007) -- The Wyoming Cowgirl Volleyball team (10-9 overall, 4-6 in the MWC) earned their second win of the week with a four game victory (30-26, 30-22, 31-33, 30-23) against TCU Horned Frogs (18-8 overall, 5-5 in the MWC) on Friday night in Laramie.
“This was a big time weekend for us,” said head coach Pat Stangle. “These are two wins over two quality teams. You have to protect your home court and we did that. Tonight it was our passers, Rachel, Angie and Carissa, had probably the best passing night all season. That really seemed to keep us in it when we went in to a bit of a lull and they took over the flow of the match. Our passing allowed us to stay in system and run our offense.”
Wyoming had three players in double-figures led by senior outside hitter Rachel Smith. She finished with a season high 29 kills, while adding eight digs and a .339 (29-9-59) hitting percentage. Angie Hellbaum followed with 18 kills and a career high 17 digs, while Lauren Whitney added 14 kills. Carissa Lee finished with a team high 20 digs and setter Tasha Weishahn had 62 assists. The Cowgirls hit .263 (77-30-179) for the match and recorded seven total blocks.
TCU was led by LeMeita Smith with 16 kills and a .257 (16-7-35) hitting percentage, while Kourtney Edwards finished with 15 kills and four block assists. Libero Calli Corley led the way with a match high 22 digs. The Frogs hit .234 (60-23-158) for the match.
Wyoming opened up the first game with a 7-2 lead. The Frogs scored three of the next four to make it an 8-5 score but the Cowgirls responded with a 7-1 run to go up 15-6. The two teams played fairly evenly until another run by the Cowgirls put them up 22-14. TCU wouldn’t go away as they battled back to within four, 26-22. Wyoming scored the next point and then the Frogs scored three unanswered to make it a two point game, 27-25. Wyoming kept their composure and scored the final three of four to win the game 30-26.
The two teams played even through 12 points until TCU took a slight 8-6 lead in the second game. They continued to lead over the next several points until a 10-2 run by Wyoming put them up 17-12. That lead would extend to nine points, 23-14. Despite being out scored 8-7 the remainder of the way the Cowgirls took the game 30-22 and a 2-0 lead in the match.
TCU took an early 4-1 lead to begin the third game as well, which was evened up at five all by the Cowgirls. The Frogs scored the next two points but Wyoming came back with three out of the next five to tie it up at nine. Over the next 12 points the two teams went back and forth to make it 15 all. A 9-4 TCU run would make it 24-19 which put the momentum on their side. The Cowgirls clawed their way back in to it with a 10-5 run and holding off two game points to even it up at 29 all. They would hold off three more before falling 33-31.
The score went back and forth in the fourth game until a 5-1 run by Wyoming gave them an 11-7 lead. The Frogs scored the next four of five to pull within one, 12-11, but the Cowgirls scored five straight to take a 17-11 advantage. TCU battled back with a 7-5 run to pull within four, 22-18. Once again, Wyoming held strong and closed out the game scoring eight of thirteen to win the game 30-23 and the match 3-1.
The Cowgirls will head back out on the road next weekend for two matches. They will take on the Utah Utes, on Friday, Oct. 26, and the BYU Cougars, on Saturday, Oct. 27. Both matches are set to begin at 7:00 p.m.
Salt Lake City, Utah (Oct. 26, 2007) -- The Wyoming Cowgirl Volleyball team (10-10 overall, 4-7 in the MWC) started off the weekend with a three game loss (29-31, 28-30, 29-31) against the Utah Utes (9-11 overall, 5-5 in the MWC) on Friday night in Salt Lake City.
Freshman Lauren Whitney led the way for the Cowgirls with 14 kills and a .400 (14-4-25) hitting percentage, while adding five digs. She was followed by Rachel Smith with 12 kills, while Angie Hellbaum finished with nine kills. Carissa Lee led the way with 12 digs. Wyoming hit .155 (41-23-116) for the match and had 11 total team blocks.
Lori Baird finished with a team leading 13 kills, eight total blocks and a .632 (13-1-19) hitting percentage for the Utes. Kathryn Haynie added 11 kills, while two other players finished with nine. Connie Dangerfield finished her night with ten digs. Utah hit .202 (56-30-129) and also had 11 total team blocks.
Utah opened up the first game by taking a 4-2 lead, but the Cowgirls scored the next two points to even things up at four all. The Utes scored the next eight of eleven to gain a 12-7 advantage, and continued to lead over the next several points. Down by the score of 17-12, the Cowgirls would go on a 7-3 run to pull within one, 20-19. The momentum would shift back over to Utah as they went on an 8-6 run of their own to make it a 28-26 game and then eventually game point at 29-26. Wyoming battled back to score the next three straight to pull even at 29 all, unfortunately the Utes scored the final two points to win the game 31-29.
In game two, Wyoming fell behind early but evened things up at five all. The Utes responded with an 8-3 run to open up a five point lead, 13-8. They continued to maintain a four or five point lead as the Cowgirls struggled to string points together. With the score 24-20 in favor of Utah, Wyoming scored seven of the next eleven points to pull within one, 28-27, unfortunately they couldn’t make enough of a comeback. The Utes would win the second game 30-28 to take a 2-0 lead in the match.
The Cowgirls came out strong in the third game as they took a commanding 8-2 lead. Utah scored three of the next four points to pull within four, 9-5, but Wyoming answered with a 5-3 scoring run to make it a 14-8 game. The Utes would battle back with a 10-6 run to pull within two, 20-18. They would eventually tie the score at 22 all and then scored the next three of four to take a 25-23 advantage. Utah would extend the lead to 28-25, but the Cowgirls battled back with three straight points to tie the score up at 28. The two teams traded a couple of points unfortunately Utah scored the final two in order to win the game 31-29 and the match 3-0.
The Cowgirls will close out the weekend tomorrow against the BYU Cougars beginning at 7:00 p.m. in Provo.
