The Wyoming Cowgirls volleyball team has started the 2021 season with an unbeaten four game win streak.
The Cowgirls beat Utah state and New Mexico respectively in the first four games of their schedule. They have managed to secure wins in 12 out of the 14 sets they have played thus far.
The university got their first at home taste of their 2021 team as the Cowgirls returned to Laramie to play two games against New Mexico on February 12 and 13. Each of those games seeing the Cowgirls beat the Lady Lobos of New Mexico in all six of the rounds they played.
“I was lucky enough to at least get into the building. Even in the back rows the feeling was electrifying. The excitement and fun of watching a dominant win made up for how empty it was,” Devin Carver said, a senior who attended Friday’s game.
Alongside the other sports programs like basketball, UniWyo Sports Complex is now allowing for a small number of fans to sit and watch the game live. This is in line with the university’s policies allowing for small groups of fans to watch the games in person.
“It’s tough to imagine not hearing the usual crowd noise during a game. It would feel so wrong without the ‘Ragtime Cowboy Joe’ or anything,” Matthew Hope said, a junior who worked both games as a ticket taker.
“It’s been over a calendar year since we’ve had a match here at home,” head coach Chad Callihan said. “Even though we’re in a situation with reduced fan capacity, it’s still nice to see our team get out here and compete.”
The Cowgirls leave the series with a 108-63 point total supported by 66 kills, 12 aces, 20 blocks, 67 assists, and 94 digs.
Senior Jackie McBride and junior KC McMahon held the most scored points on each day of the series with 12 on Friday for McBride and 9 on Saturday for McMahon. McBride leaves the series with 20 of the Cowgirls total kills throughout the weekend.
The Cowgirls swept the Player of the Week (POW) awards for the Mountain West Women’s Volleyball. McBride secured the offensive POW while junior Kaitlyn Gehler secured the defensive award with her strong handling of the Lobos attack plan.
Callihan said he is experiencing the best win record for a season start the team has had under him since his hiring in 2013.
Callihan said, “I think I get a little hung up on how we play rather than what the result is; like most coaches. But at the end of the day, this is where you want to be. The kids are working hard and it’s nice to see them get some results that we can feel pretty good about over the weekend.”
“It is nice for everyone to carve out a role for themselves and it is nice to spell some kids,” Callihan said. “Injuries forced us to play a few kids that we hadn’t necessarily planned to play as much. All of a sudden there were a lot of moving pieces for a while, and I don’t think we were quite as crisp because of that. But it was nice to see those kids get some time and see some of them play pretty well. It gives us something to build on as we move forward.”
The Cowgirls will travel to Idaho to play the Boise State Broncos on February 19 and February 20,. Their next home series will be the Border War against Colorado State University the week after on the 26 and 27.
