By Staff
LARAMIE, Wyo. — With the UniWyo Sports Complex at near capacity, the Cowgirl volleyball team showed its resiliency despite falling to No. 12 Colorado State on Tuesday night. The Rams took the match 3-2 (15-25, 20-25, 25-20, 27-25, 11-15) in front of 1,189 fans on senior night.
It was the first time CSU (25-3, 18-0 MW) had played five sets since Sept. 26 earlier this season against Boise State. The loss snapped Wyoming’s (23-7, 13-5 MW) current seven-match winning streak and 12-straight at home. It was the second-best home winning streak in the programs history and UW was one win away from it being the second time this season it had a stretch of eight-straight wins.
“I thought we competed very well,” UW head coach Chad Callihan said. “We had good swings all night and it was nice to see us put ourselves in a position to win this match and that hasn’t always been the case in this rivalry.”
After dropping to first two sets against Colorado State, the Cowgirls used stellar defensive play in the third and fourth set to send the match to the fifth and final frame. Reed Copeland led all players with 11 total blocks during the match. She and senior Kayla Henderson each had five in the third set for the Cowgirls. Wyoming had 25 digs in the fourth set alone, with Allison Waldvogel leading the way with nine.
Senior Bridget Shanahan and junior Kayla Slofkiss kept the offense in gear against CSU. Shanahan had a team-high 15, while Sloffkiss added 14 for UW. With her 14 kills, Slofkiss scooped up 12 digs for her team-leading 14th double-double of the season.
Courtney Chacon had her tenth double-double for Wyoming as she had 26 assists and 16 digs. It was the fifth time this season Chacon has had 25 or more assists. Waldvogel led the Cowgirls with 18 digs on the evening. She also had four assists and a career-high two kills. Cori Aafedt added 23 assists and six digs for Wyoming.
Copeland, Henderson and Laura Beach each had six kills for the Cowgirls against Colorado State. Copeland had a .625 hitting percentage to go along with her outstanding defensive play, while Emily Hines added five kills for UW.
In the first set, Chacon had five digs, while Slofkiss added four for UW. Shanahan had four of her kills in the first frame, as Slofkiss had a team-high five in the second. The third set was highlighted by the ten blocks between Copeland and Henderson, while Waldvogel lead both teams with nine digs in the fourth set. Shanahan had three kills to lead Wyoming in the final set.
