Wyoming Cowgirls Volleyball team defeats the Air Force Falcons 3-1 on Friday night by scores of 25-21, 20-25, 25-12, and 25-17. Wyoming improved to 13-11 (8-4) on the season and remains in second place in the Mountain West Conference Standings.
“I think it is huge (remaining in second place) with the new tournament this year, with the NIVC being a second tournament besides the NCAA Tournament,” head coach Chad Callihan said.
Teams that finish in second place will automatically qualify for the NIVC allowing the Cowgirls to compete in postseason play.
Emily Lewis said, “As far as us being in second we are not really focusing on that, we are focusing on getting the next win.”
Against Air Force, Wyoming was lead on offense by Tara Traphagan with 13 kills, while Halie McArdle and Jackie McBride added 9 more kills each. Marissa Harmon led the Cowgirls with 38 assists. Defensively the Cowgirls were led by Harmon with 11 digs while Madi Fields had 10 digs of her own. McBride added 8 blocks defensively.
Air Force was led by Abigail Miksch and Denise Ssozi who had 14 kills each while Piper Heineck added 13 more kills. Shanleigh Conlan led both teams with 47 assists. Defensively for the Falcons, they were led by Alex King who had 18 digs.
First Set
Wyoming would start out with a 7-2 lead but following an Air Force timeout the Cowgirls would quickly cool down and the teams would be tied at 11 points each. The teams would exchange points and keep tying with each other until Wyoming was able to pull away and win the set by a score of 25-21.
Second Set
Air Force jumped out to a quick 8-4 lead over Wyoming. The teams battled back and forth during most of the set but Air Force ended up pulling away to win the set 20-25.
Third Set
Wyoming started off the set very hot jumping out to a 10-3 lead. Wyoming was aided by Reid Copeland coming off the bench and having timely kills and blocks to give Wyoming the momentum.
“She (Copeland) did a really nice job. Very proud of her performance,” Callihan said.
Wyoming cruised to a 25-12 victory giving them the 2-1 lead.
Fourth Set
Wyoming and Air Force played each other close but Wyoming put together a couple of small runs to give them the final set and the match off of a score of 25-17.
“It was just kind of a weird match, it was pretty up and down. I thought that it took us a couple of sets to get going,” Callihan said.
While Wyoming was slow to get going they were able to win by large margins in the third and fourth sets to come away with the victory.
“I think we just stepped up our game completely (in the last two sets,” Harmon said.
Lewis said, “We know we need to improve from tonight, we know sets three and four were good but sets one and two are not going to cut it here on out.”
Wyoming will have time to get work done in the gym since their next game is not until Thursday, Nov. 2 in Laramie at the UniWyo Sports Complex when they will face Boise State.
