Cowgirls comeback nets first conference victory

SAN JOSE, Calif., – The Wyoming Cowgirls won in comeback, thrilling fashion Thursday night at San Jose State to capture their first Mountain West victory of the season, winning a marathon five-set match. Set scores went 25-27, 25-18, 21-25, 25-23 and 16-14.

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Wyoming (9-8, 1-4 MW) showed great resiliency in the fifth set, rallying from an 11-7 deficit and facing match point, trailing 14-13. The Cowgirls were able to go on a 5-0 scoring run following a timeout late in the set to take a 12-11 lead before the Spartans (9-6, 3-2 MW) got back-to-back points to force match point.

The Cowgirls would close the match with three consecutive points behind a kill from KC McMahon, a service ace from Erika Jones and an attacking error from SJSU. McMahon was a monster offensively in the win, recording a season- and match-high 22 kills while hitting .419. McMahon was also a dig shy of a double-double as she tallied a career-best nine digs while also adding three blocks.

UW did get a double-double performance by Hailey Zuroske in the victory, as she was one of four Cowgirls with double-figure digs. Zuroske tallied 11 kills and 13 digs on the night. Jones, who along with Naya Shimé, led the Cowgirls with two aces, had 12 digs.

Zoee Smith had a career-best 11 digs in the win, while Abby Olsen had a career-night, notching career-bests with 51 assists and 15 digs while also adding four kills and a pair of blocks. Olsen helped spearhead a Cowgirl offense that hit .273 on the evening, while the Spartans hit .199.

Shimé got it done both offensively and defensively for Wyoming, as she added 15 kills, seven digs and three total blocks. Jackie McBride meanwhile, chipped in with three blocks of her own and also added nine kills while hitting a tremendous .533.

Overall, the night featured a total of 40 ties and 17 lead changes, including 21 ties and 12 lead changes in just the final two sets. Wyoming finished the night with nine total team blocks, while SJSU had eight. The Spartans did a lot of their damage from the service line, as they entered the match leading the league in service aces and had 13 aces to Wyoming’s six.

The Cowgirls look to sustain their momentum Saturday afternoon in a 1 p.m., MT match at Nevada. It will be the final of four consecutive road matches for the Brown & Gold over the past two weeks.