The Wyoming Cowgirls sent their seniors, Erin Kirby and Whitney Smith, off the right way with a win over Nevada in sweeping sets of (25-14, 25-19, 25-20). Wyoming is now 22-7 overall and is 11-5 in the Mountain West.
In their final home match, Kirby had six kills and eight points, and Smith had five kills and five points. Sophomore Kayla Slofkiss led the team in kills with seven and in points with 13.5. Wyoming out-hit the Wolf Pack .306 to .099.
Head coach Chad Callihan said of the Cowgirls performance after the match, “We were very streaky tonight. We put together a five-point run and then gave three or four back, but luckily put together a few more runs than they did. We’ve really served well all season, sometimes you get more aces, but our goal was to knock them out of system.”
Wyoming began the first set on a 10-4 run that forced Nevada to take a timeout. After the timeout, the Cowgirls had a 6-2 run that extended their lead to 10 and forced Nevada to take another timeout. Wyoming ended the match on a 9-4 run and never let the Wolf Pack within 10 points of the lead. Slofkiss lead the team with 5.5 point and was tied in kills with Kirby and Junior Kayla Henderson during the set.
The second set began with the Cowgirls scoring the first five points, but Nevada was quick to tie up the set at 6-6. Wyoming then scored four of the next five point that gave them a three point lead and forced the Wolf Pack to take a timeout. Coming out of the timeout, Wyoming went on an 8-3 run that began with a serving error from Nevada. The Wolf Pack was able to bring the score with in five after having a run of their own. Nevada could not seal the deal and lost the second set, giving Wyoming a 2-0 lead.
The Wolf Pack scored the first three points of the third set, that Wyoming answered quickly going on a 10-3 run that gave them a four point lead and forced Nevada to take a timeout. After the timeout, the Cowgirls went on another run, this time 7-3. Nevada called their second timeout of the set and then they went on a run of 8-6. This forced Wyoming to call a timeout with the score at 23-18. The Cowgirls won the set 25-20 and won the match 3-0.
Wyoming currently sits third in the Mountain West and have two matches left on the schedule. Wyoming will head to San Jose to play the Spartans on Saturday. The match begins at 7 p.m.
