Cowgirl Volleyball Drops Conference Opener

The University of Wyoming volleyball team missed 16 serves through five close sets against Boise State and lost their first game in Mountain West competition (20-25, 23-25, 25-18, 25-23, 12-15) Thursday night in Laramie.

Even though the Cowgirls (9-6, 0-1) held the Broncos (9-5, 1-0) to a .155 hitting percentage for the match, Boise State stepped up to close the match in the fifth set. BSU called a timeout after UW tied the game up at 10-10, then four kills and one ace later the match belonged to the visiting team. The two points Wyoming got after that timeout were from a Boise State hitting error and a missed serve.

Boise State is a strong team and we knew that coming in tonight’s match. They run a really fast offense. Rachel (Keyes) did a nice job maintaining composure. Our problem didn’t really have to do with our game plan, but executing the last five points of the match. We started off slow in the first two sets and had to work our way back. Then when we did get back in the match down the stretch we struggled closing it out. This team gave me everything they had tonight. Tough to lose at home, but we have room to get better.
-Wyoming Head Coach Carrie Yerty

The Cowgirls ran a 5-1 with Keyes, who is listed at 5'7". True freshman setter Whitney Smith is recovering from a wrist injury and is practicing with the team again, but has yet to see any match action since Sept. 3. Although blocking was a challenge for Keyes, she ran a very well balanced offense with her 15 assists which allowed four different Cowgirls to record double-digit kills.

Middle blocker Reese Plante led the way with a career-high 18 kills and a .433 hitting percent. Camille Coffman put down 15 kills from the right side for a .429 hitting percent and added 7 block assists. On the outside Jodi Purdy got 14 kills and 11 digs while moving into 14th place on Wyoming's career kills list with 943. Redshirt freshman Erin Kirby had 11 kills and 10 block assists.

Fiona Jones led Boise State with 14 kills while Breann Nesselhuf, Liz Harden and Darlene Nwagbuo had 9 kills each. The Broncos held the obvious advantage in the aces-to-error serving ratio with 2 aces to 3 missed serves compared to Wyoming's 2 aces to 16 missed serves.

Wyoming will continue Mountain West play on Saturday, Sept. 24, when they host the Air Force Falcons in the UniWyo Sports Complex at 1 p.m.