Wyoming Cowgirls volleyball defeats UNLV, but drops match to CSU
LARAMIE — A dynamic Wyoming attack propelled the Cowgirls to a three-set sweep (25-20, 25-19, 25-16) of UNLV on Saturday at the UniWyo Sports Complex.
The win allowed the Cowgirls to quickly recover from a 3-1 loss at the hands of San Diego State last Thursday night while also keeping pace in the hunt for a top-six position within in the Mountain West conference standings.
Claire Wagstaff and Emma Winter each delivered 10 kills to lead the Cowgirls attack. Wagstaff's .333 hitting efficiency helped UW finish with a .241 rate as a team. Kayla Mazzocca led the team with a .500 hitting efficiency with six kills on 12 attempts while Sarah Holcomb and Paige Lauterwasser added eight kills apiece.
The varied attack was a credit largely to setter Kasia Partyka, who dished out 37 assists in the win. Partyka added nine digs in the match while Sierra Grizzle led the defense in the back row with 14 digs.
Unfortunately for the Cowgirls, they lost to Colorado State in four sets Tuesday night. UW (14-9, 6-7 MW) remains in seventh place in the conference standingsand heads to Boise State (15-8, 7-6) on Thursday for a key match in the team's playoff hunt. The Broncos hold the sixth and final playoff spot a half game ahead of UW.
Cowgirls soccer season ends short of postseason
On the soccer pitch, the Cowgirls saw their first season under head coach Josh Purdum come to a close with a scoreless draw against Colorado State last Thursday.
The single point gained in the draw was not enough to overtake Colorado College for the sixth and final playoff spot. In the end, draws against Boise State and New Mexico when the team held two-goal leads in the second half proved costly. Those four lost points would have put Wyoming in firmly in the MW conference championship bracket with a fifth-place seed.
The Cowgirls will see a seven-member senior class depart, including leading scorer Alyssa Bedard (six goals and four assists). The team also loses F Jazi Barela, F Maddi Chance, D Taylor Brook, MF Gabby Clutter, D Kylee Holstad and D Eliza-Grace Smith.
Cross country teams take third, fifth at MW Championships
UW's men's and women's cross country squads finished third and fifth, respectively, at the MW Championships last Friday.
Jacob White and Dylan van der Hock paced the Cowboys in the 8k race held at Eisenhower Golf Course in Colorado Springs, Colorado. White finished 11th in a time of 24 minutes, 37.1 seconds while Van der Hock was right behind in 14th at 24:47.5.
Mason Norman (24:55.2), Ryker Holtzen (24:55.8) and Trevor Stephen (25:04.3) took 17th, 18th and 20th, respectively to help lead UW to its third-place finish.
On the women's side, senior Kylie Simshauser finished in fifth with a time of 20:34.5 over the 6k course. Simshauser opened a lead at the 1-mile mark only to falter through the heart of the race.
Six other Cowgirls finished in the top 30 as Abigail Whitman placed 22nd, Leah Christians 23rd, Eowyn Dalbec 26th, Madelyn Blazo 27th, Hailey Uhre 29th and Marina Trave Ferrer came home in 30th.
The men and women will race for a spot in the NCAA Championships at the NCAA Mountain Regional in Reno, Nevada, on Nov. 15.
University of Wyoming Sports Reporter
