Cowgirls Host a Pair of Matches This Week

* University of Wyoming press release

LARAMIE -- The Wyoming Cowgirl volleyball team looks to make it three and four consecutive wins this week as the Cowgirls return home for a pair of contests.

Wyoming hosts San Jose State Thursday, October 6 for a 6:30 p.m., contest before closing Saturday, Oct. 8 for Noon first serve against Nevada. UW is coming off a pair of five-set wins on the road last week.

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Wyoming (6-10, 2-2 MW) won two thrillers on the road last week, hanging out to defeat New Mexico before rallying to defeat Air Force. The Cowgirls were led in last week’s victories by Naya Shimé’s 4.6 kills and 5.0 points per set. Shimé opened the week with a career-best 26 kills in the win against the Lobos and followed that up with 20 more kills against Air Force.

The Cowgirls got great performances from multiple sources last week, including Tierney Barlow, who was named the Mountain West Freshman of the Week Monday for her efforts.

Barlow hit .526 last week and averaged 2.40 kills per set. Barlow’s player of the week honor is the first for the Cowgirls since the spring 2021 season. Barlow enters this week hitting .390 on the season, a mark that ranks second-best in the league.

Thanks to her 59 and 55-assist matches last week, Kasia Partyka is now averaging 9.63 assists per set overall this season, a mark that ranks third-best in the league. Partyka is also averaging 10.29 helpers per during league play, which is second in the Mountain West. Partyka recorded her sixth and seventh double-doubles of the season last week as she also tallied 28 digs in UW’s two wins.

Corin Carruth also had a pair of double-doubles and now has five this season as she recorded 20 kills and 16 digs at UNM and 10 kills and 10 digs against the Falcons.

Wyoming has had good success against the Spartans and Wolf Pack in the past. The Cowgirls are 14-6 overall against SJSU all-time and are 7-4 at home, although the Spartans won a five-setter last season in Laramie. UW is 10-1 all-time in Laramie against Nevada and is 16-3 in all matchups.

San Jose State, who enters Thursday's contest as one of two undefeated teams in Mountain West play in the league, is led by Amethyst Harper's 176 kills this season. Harper is 10th in the league averaging 4.0 points per set in 2022. The Spartans deploy a two-setter rotation as Mia Schafer leads the team with 320 assists (5.82 per set) with Carly Aigner-Swesey averaging 4.84 per set and has 266 assists overall.

The Spartans, who lead the league in service aces per set with 1.84, have three that rank in the top-five in the league, individually. Haylee Nelson, Harper and Schafer all are averaging 0.53 aces per set during league play. Defensively, Sarah Smevog ranks third in the league averaging 3.95 digs per set and is the two-time, reigning Defensive Player of the Week in the league.

Nevada enters the week with a 7-8 mark overall and is 1-3 in conference play. The Wolf Pack is led by Kayla Afoa, who has 239 kills in 2022 and is averaging 4.12 kills and 4.53 points per set. Those marks rank second and third, respectively in the Mountain West.

Andrea Alcaraz leads Nevada averaging 8.93 assists per set this season and is averaging 3.50 digs per set. Defensively, Kia Kaohelaulii leads the conference in digs per set at 4.66 per. At the net, Jordan Schwartz leads the way with 62 total blocks.

- Wyoming Expectation Vs. Reality