Cowgirl Volleyball Wins UniWyo Wyoming Invite

A stymieing defense got the University of Wyoming volleyball team off to a 4-0 start to the 2012 season as the Cowgirls won the UniWyo Wyoming Invite on Saturday and junior libero Becky Stewart was named Tournament MVP.

"We knew this spring that Becky (Stewart) would be a great libero for us," commented Head Coach Carrie Yerty. "We've even stated that we thought she would be one of the top liberos in the conference because she is just on the ball. She's got great reading skills, she' s aggressive, she's a fireball and it was nice to see her really put all of the skills together, be injury free at the beginning of the season and really just lead our team."

After winning their first two matches on Friday, the Cowgirls came out on Saturday and defeated Eastern Washington 25-17,25-14,25-15 and Seattle University 25-19,25-14,25-27,25-23. Through their first four games the Cowgirls have held their opponents to a .083 attack percentage, averaging almost two more digs per set than those across the net and racking up 44 total blocks to their opponents 28.

"All of us in general are bringing that defense," said Stewart. "It's something new this year for us. We have such a strong determination to keep (the ball) off the floor and we know exactly what we're moving behind our block, so it's really a team effort."

Stewart dug up 65 balls through the course of the weekend for an average of 4.64 digs per set and only committed 2 receiving errors. Senior Jodi Purdy had 34 digs to go with a team-leading 46 kills while junior outside hitter Callie Miller posted 31 kills. In the middle, junior Reese Plante had 29 kills and 26 total blocks. Purdy and Plante were named to the All-Tournament Team.

The next competition for UW will be the UniWyo Cowgirl Classic in Laramie on August 31 and September 1. They will play Bethune Cookman and George Washington on Friday and Florida Gulf Coast and UMKC on Saturday.