Cowgirl Volleyball Ready for Home, Road Split

* University of Wyoming press release

LARAMIE -- The Wyoming Cowgirl volleyball team will split its two matches this week between home and road. The Cowgirls will host Nevada at 6:30 p.m., Thursday before traveling to face Fresno State Saturday on the road at 2 p.m., Mountain Time.

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Wyoming (14-5, 3-5 MW) split a pair of road contests last week. The Cowgirls lost in four hard-fought sets at New Mexico before rebounding for a four-set victory at Air Force Saturday. Once Thursday’s contest against the Wolf Pack is complete, the Cowgirls will be halfway through the Mountain West slate.

The Brown & Gold got a couple of solid performances in last week’s split. Rylee Schulz led the Cowgirls with 33 kills last week, including matching a career-best with 21 kills in the win over the Falcons. Schulz began the week with her fifth double-double of the season as she tallied 12 kills and 12 digs against UNM.

Tierney Barlow had a team-best 15 kills and hit .500 against the Lobos while against AFA, Paige Lauterwasser had the best match of her young career. Lauterwasser tallied a career-best 11 kills against Air Force and hit an efficient .500 in the match. Kasia Partyka notched 46 assists in the win and averaged nearly 10.8 assists per set last week.

Sierra Grizzle also had a big week for UW, averaging 4.13 digs per set. Grizzle set a career-high with 18 digs in the loss at New Mexico while also setting a career-best with four service aces. For the week, Grizzle tallied seven aces to lead the Cowgirls.

Partyka still paces the Mountain West averaging 10.70 assists per set, which ranks 14th in the country. Schulz, meanwhile, ranks fifth in the conference averaging 3.35 kills per set and Barlow ranks sixth in the league with 3.99 points a set.

Nevada is led defensively by Jordan Schwartz's 1.32 blocks per set, which is second in the Mountain West. The Wolf Pack also have a pair of student-athletes ranking in the top-10 in the league in service aces as Tehya Maeva (0.37) and Nicanora Clarke (0.36) rank fifth and seventh, respectively in the MW. Offensively, Nevada has a pair with 200-plus kills this season in Sia Liilii (237) and Clarke (209). The Wolf Pack have a stellar libero in Hikialani Kaohelaulii, who is averaging 4.31 digs per set during league play and 4.62 in all matches in 2023. Maeva leads Nevada with 482 assists this season.

Fresno State is led by Addison Haluska's 247 kills in 2023. Grace Doyle and Ella Rud both have 178 kills each. Kasey Purry leads the Bulldogs averaging 1.12 blocks per set, which ranks sixth-best in the Mountain West. Brooke Cowie's 9.20 assists per set this season ranks third in the league while Dionii Fraga's 4.25 digs per set are also third-best. As a team, Fresno is hitting .190 overall, as are Bulldog opponents.

From Bison to Triceratops - All of Wyoming's Official Things

Every state in our nation has chosen things that represent the state in one way or another to be official state things. Like a flower, or animal. Wyoming is no different.

The Equality State, or the Cowboy State, depending on which state slogan you want to go with, has a state flower. But did you know we also have a state tree and a state fish? Yes, we even have a state code.

To be an official thing, a member of the state legislature must write and submit a bill to the legislature declaring that a thing will be the official state thing. Then the legislature votes to pass the bill, or not, if it passes, the governor signs the bill into law and we have a new official state thing.

Here is what we have so far, all of Wyoming's official things. Now you can win big on Wyo Trivia Night if that's a thing that exists.

Gallery Credit: Ben Kuhns

- From Bison to Triceratops - All of Wyoming's Official Things

Filed Under: Wyoming Volleyball