Wyoming Volleyball Upsets No. 23 Colorado State in Five Sets
"I just want us to fight," were the words that Wyoming's head volleyball coach Carrie Yerty responded with last week when asked what she wanted to see out of her team against Colorado State. "I think they're beatable, but in order for us to beat CSU we're going to have to play very aggressively. We're going to have to serve and pass well and follow our game plan."
Ask and you shall receive.
"Praise Jesus!" were the words that went through Cowgirl outside hitter Jodi Purdy's mind at the moment she realized her team had just come back to defeat No. 23 CSU after losing the first two sets, 15-25, 20-25, 25-23, 25-22, 18-16.
The first two sets amounted to what most probably expected from the match. CSU hit .410 as a team and amassed 8.0 team blocks. The Rams were so dominant that in the early part of the second set when Purdy surpassed 1,000 career kills, the visiting CSU fans cheered just as loud as the UW fans. Heading into the third set Wyoming was hitting a measly .167 and had only managed to hold serve 11 times.
Colorado State (11-4, 4-1) had swept Wyoming (13-7, 3-2) in three straight sets the last five times the teams met and Saturday could've been that same story, but the Rams opened the door for the Cowgirls to make a run. After committing 6 total hitting errors in the first two sets, CSU had 9 in the third. At the same time, UW began finding open court with roll shots and tips. As Wyoming hung around CSU, they gained confidence in their defense and starting digging up balls and getting touches on blocks they had been no where near in the earlier sets.
The match was five points away from over with Wyoming down 16-20 in the third set when Colorado State missed a serve which was followed by two hitting errors. Both teams were trading kills but the Cowgirls realized they had a chance to stay alive when a kill from Purdy tied things up at 23. With the match tightening up the Rams went to their lone senior, Katelyn Steffan, but she hit one ball just long and her next hit bounced on the tape and went barely wide to give the Cowgirls the set.
Wyoming went into the fourth set bursting with enthusiasm. Coach Yerty had moved Calli Miller over to the outside and inserted Emily Rochelle as an opposite hitter in the second set and they were a big part of the spark the Cowgirls turned into a flame.
"Emily was a difference maker for us tonight," said Coach Yerty. "She is very calm under pressure. Emily's got a lot of experience in terms of playing in different positions and playing under pressure. She was an awesome addition to our right side today. I'm so proud of her."
With improved defensive play, Rochelle and Camille Coffman found kills on the opposite side during transition. Through the first two sets they each had 1 kill a piece, by the end of the match they had combined for 18. When CSU rallied toward the end of the fourth set, UW got their final 2 points from Coffman terminating the ball on the right side.
Realizing the match was actually in jeopardy, Colorado State found their earlier rhythm and quickly got to a 9-3 lead in the deciding set. At that point, CSU middle blocker Megan Plourde was near flawless with 2 kills and 2 block assists to go with 3 kills from Dana Cranston and 2 kills from Steffan.
Coach Yerty chose this moment in the match to go to her lone senior, Tamara Kitic, who subbed in on the opposite side and immediately found a cross court kill. The next point went to Wyoming on a hitter error from Brieon Paige. The next two points went to Wyoming on kills from Miller, who was now seeing the block and tooling it frequently.
Cranston and Steffan continued a relentless pounding from the left side, but the momentum was already Wyoming's and the Cowgirl defense rose to meet the challenge. Libero Becky Stewart picked up 6 digs and Purdy found 5 in the final set alone.
Colorado State did get to match point on a kill from Steffan, but she foot faulted on her serve to tie the match back up at 14. CSU got to a second match point on a hitting error from Miller, but Miller pounded her next hit through the block which tied the match at 15. A third match point went to the Rams on a kill from Cranston, but Wyoming found middle Reese Plante in quick transition to tie it up once more at 16.
The final two points saw Miller hammer hits through the block to give Wyoming a victory over Colorado State for the first time since Nov. 13, 1997. In the last set the Cowgirls hit .387. Before this match, CSU opponents averaged a .170 hitting percentage.
"When it came down the stretch Calli Miller was so aggressive, everybody was so aggressive. It was awesome," said Coach Yerty.
"Believing they can play, believing in their team and our game plan and that they can actually be a good solid team," was the difference between the first two and the final three sets according to Yerty. "We've been, for the last three weeks, really progressing and improving. We knew that once we got our full roster back and healthy that we'd have a shot to win some big games."
Setters Rachel Keyes and Whitney Smith contributed 29 and 25 assists respectively as the Cowgirls returned to a 6-2 after losing Smith for three weeks to a wrist injury. Stewart tallied 19 digs after sitting out the opening tournament of the year with a hamstring injury.
Purdy led the Cowgirls with 16 kills, 21 digs and 5 block assists. Three other hitters notched double-digit kills in Miller with 13 followed by Plante and Coffman with 11 each.
"We don't have one star. We have six solid players that do their role really well," said Coach Yerty. "Clearly Jodi (Purdy) is a leader in that, Reese Plante has done an awesome job since she's come back (from Mono). I've never been prouder of watching a team battle. Whether we would have won or not, they battled till the end."
Wyoming will stay at home this week to host two conference matches. The first will be against TCU on Thursday, Oct. 13th, the second will be against New Mexico on Saturday, Oct. 15th. Both matches will start at 7:00 p.m. in the UniWyo Sports Complex.
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