Cowgirls Notch Home Opening Win Over South Dakota

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LARAMIE, Wyo. (Aug. 25, 2017) — The University of Wyoming Cowgirl volleyball team gave their hometown fans a show during a straight-set win over South Dakota on Friday night. UW cruised through a three-set sweep (25-21, 25-20, 25-15) over the Coyotes to begin the Rumble in the Rockies tournament.

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UW brought out the brooms for the first time of the young season by holding USD to a .196 hitting percentage compared to its own .362 hitting percentage inside the UniWyo Sports Complex. The win gives Wyoming a 31-10-1 record in home openers, including perfect 5-0 mark under head coach Chad Callihan. UW recorded 48 kills in its season opener, dished out 45 assists and 43 digs all on its way to an impressive victory.

 

“South Dakota is a good team and we knew it would a challenge to stop them,” UW head coach Chad Callihan said. “I don’t think we ever really got our defense set against them, but as the match went on we were able to get a little more comfortable. I was impressed with our offense, everything was clicking tonight and we played clean. We’ve seen that at practice at times, but it was nice to see once match time came that we were able to lock in and play good volleyball.”

 

Freshman Marissa Harmon ran the offense for the Brown and Gold. She led both teams with 38 assists in her first match as a Cowgirl. Emily Lewis led both teams with 14 kills, while Halie McArdle added eight for UW. Jackie McBride and Tara Traphagan each had seven kills during the three-set match, as Reed Copeland and Harmon each added six. Madi Fields and McArdle led the team defensively with 15 and seven digs, respectively.

Set One:

While the Coyotes earned the first point of the match, Lewis recorded UW’s first kill of 2017 to even the score at one. Behind back-to-back kills from sophomores McArdle and Traphagan, Wyoming then took its first lead 4-3. Up 7-4, Austin tossed up the first service ace of the year. She had a team-best three for the match, after leading the Cowgirls with 25 a year ago. The largest lead for either team in the first set was four as Copeland’s third kill on the evening put the Brown and Gold up 17-13. Lewis notched her fifth kill to make it 20-17 ahead of a South Dakota timeout. Immediately after the timeout, McBride recorded her first kill as a Cowgirl to put UW up 23-18. The Coyotes didn’t give in easy and rallied off two points while the Cowgirls were on set-point. Callihan called his first timeout before McArdle’s third kill gave UW a 1-0 set advantage.

 

Set Two:

USD jumped out to a 3-1 lead before Traphagan closed the gap, 3-2. The third kill from Harmon gave UW the lead 5-4 and the Cowgirls never looked back. Austin then recorded her second service ace to give the Brown and Gold a 6-4 advantage. Harmon and Copeland combined for a block to electrify the UniWyo and give UW an 8-6 lead. South Dakota went on a 5-2 run just before UW called a timeout up by one, 16-15. Harmon proved to have the magic touch all night as her fourth kill pushed the Coyotes to call a timeout with UW up, 21-17. UW maintained the lead and sailed to a 25-20 second set win for a 2-0 advantage at intermission.

 

Set Three:

After intermission, Wyoming remained lit and fantastically jumped out to a 5-0 lead before USD called a timeout. Not until an eight point advantage did South Dakota earn its first point of the set. Wyoming cruised all the way to a 14-6 lead before USD went on a quick run with back-to-back points. McBride paced the Cowgirls with three of next four points for the Brown and Gold to swing momentum back.  USD continued to inch closer but couldn’t quiet down UW. South Dakota called another timeout with UW up 19-10. The Coyotes claimed the first couple points after the called time but Wyoming closed out on a 6-1 run to secure its first victory of 2017.

 

Up Next:

Wyoming returns to the court for day two of the Rumble in the Rockies. The Cowgirls will take on Abilene Christian at noon before closing out the tournament against Portland at 7 p.m. MT.