Mackenzie Thomas – Staff Writer
After the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) took the first two sets of the game, the Wyoming Cowgirls bounced back and won the last three sets to take Thursday night’s match.
Though UNLV started off the match on fire, the Cowgirls continued to stay competitive and fought hard to win in five sets.
Alongside their victory against UNLV, the Cowgirls also collected a victory against University of New Mexico on Saturday during the opening week for Mountain West play.
In their second five-set victory, the Cowgirls fought hard to win against New Mexico. The Lobos took the second and third sets of the game, but the Cowgirls started and finished strong winning the first, fourth, and fifth sets of the game.
Junior Jackie McBride led the Cowgirls to victory against New Mexico with 14 kills and 11 blocks, while Senior Halie McArdle assisted the team with another 14 kills and 6 blocks. Junior Tara Traphagan had 11 kills and 1 block, and Freshmen Emersen Cyza had 8 blocks and 2 kills. Overall the Cowgirls were hitting .223 while New Mexico hit .180.
Senior Madi Fields led backrow defense with a total of 23 digs. Fields was assisted by Freshman Kyra Slavik and Senior Kiahlei Yaste who had 15 and 11 digs respectively. Slavik also helped with 48 assists during the match while Junior Mackenzie Coates had 6 assists.
While the Cowgirls succeeded in both hitting and backrow defense, they also dominated in serving. The Cowgirls had 8 ace serves compared to New Mexico’s 4 aces throughout the match. The Cowgirls fought hard and continued to show their tenacity as they played competitively against UNM.
The Cowgirls are home tonight to open the month of October with a match against Colorado State University at 6:30 p.m. in the UniWyo Sports Complex.
