Wyoming Cowgirls Roll to First Victory

Behind 11 kills from senior Kayla Slofkiss, the Wyoming Cowgirls won their first match of the season with a three set sweep of North Dakota State.

In front of a packed UniWyo Sports Complex, the Cowgirls defeated the Bison 27-25, 25-13 and 25-23.

Head coach Chad Callihan said I think the confidence was shook a little bit.

“You can say we’re playing good teams and competing, and we were, but at the end of the day, we’re a competitive group, and we want to win some games. To get this one tonight in front of our home crowd was a good win for us.”

Wyoming (1-3) rallied to win the first set 27-25. They trailed by five points, twice, at 15-10 and 19-14. Slofkiss made a kill and hit a pair of service aces. That was followed by sophomores Mattison DeGarmo and Reed Copeland with kills, and a hitting error by NDSU that tied the set at 20-20. After the teams traded points, a Slofkiss kill and a service ace by junior Lily Austin closed out the set.

In set two, the Cowgirls went on a 9-1 scoring run for a 19-11 lead. They closed it out quickly at 25-13. UW had 11 kills and only two hitting errors, while the Bison had nine errors and only seven kills. They hit negative .062 for the set.

In the final set, Wyoming built a pair of seven point leads, but a service error and three hitting errors let North Dakota State back in the match. After the third ace of the match by Slofkiss gave the Cowgirls match point at 24-20. The Bison rallied with three straight points before senior Laura Beach’s kill ended the match, 25-23.

Slofkiss said it was hard to start the season the way they did last weekend.

“That might be good for us to start with a little challenge, but it is nice to get one. (We) Feel confident with our systems and get a little confidence underneath us after last weekend.”

Emily Lewis and Beach added eight kills apiece, while Copeland had seven. As a team, Wyoming hit .303 for the match. They also had 10 service aces. Courtney Chacon had 32 assists, while Austin contributed 10 digs and a team-best four aces.

Chacon chalked up the slower start to the first home match.

“We have some new faces on the court, so I think all that could have played a little role in why we may have been a little nervous, but I think overall we did a pretty good job.”

North Dakota State (0-4) hit .213 and had 17 attack errors.

Wyoming heads to Columbus, OH for the Sports Imports D.C. Kohl Classic Friday and Saturday. They’ll face No. 10 BYU, the host team, No. 11 Ohio State and LIU-Brooklyn.