Cowgirls host final two home matches of 2021
* University of Wyoming athletics media relations release
LARAMIE -- The Wyoming volleyball team looks to close out its 2021 home slate in style this week in the final two matches of its four-match homestand as the Cowgirls welcome Border Rival Colorado State to the UniWyo Sports Complex for a 6:30 p.m., match Tuesday. UW will then host Fresno State at 6:30 Thursday for Senior Night.
The Cowgirls (14-12, 6-8 MW) are coming off a split last week at home to begin their homestand, dropping five-set battle with San Jose State before taking care of business against Nevada, winning in a sweep.
Jackie McBride became the program’s all-time leader in career sets played in Thursday’s match against the Spartans. McBride has now played in 485 sets throughout her illustrious career.
McBride also led the Cowgirls both offensively and defensively last week, leading UW with 21 kills and seven total blocks. McBride hit .435 collectively in the two matches and with her seven block assists, now has 535 for her career at UW.
Both Wyoming setters, Payton Chamberlain and Abby Olsen, tallied double-doubles in the loss against SJSU. Olsen had 27 assists and 10 digs to tally her fourth double-double of 2021. Chamberlain, who rotated in off the bench, notched 11 assists and 11 digs each to record her second career double-double.
Thursday against Fresno State, a total of five Cowgirl student-athletes will be honored prior to the match. Kaitlyn Gehler, McBride, Olsen, Kyra Slavik and Faith Waitsman will all be playing in their final home matches in the Brown & Gold.
Mountain West-leading Colorado State ranks second in the league in hitting percentage at .269 and leads the conference with an opponent hitting percentage of .178. The Rams also lead the league in assists (12.11), kills (13.40) and service aces (1.89) per set in 2021.
Sasha Colombo (.411) and Karina Leber (.407) rank second and third, respectively in the league in hitting percentage. Kennedy Stanford leads the team and is seventh in the MW averaging 3.42 kills per set and is sixth in points per at 3.88.
Ciera Pritchard is averaging a league-leading 10.26 assists per set, while her 0.47 aces per, ranks second in the conference. Alexa Roumeliotis' 4.23 digs per set is second-best in the Mountain West.
Fresno State has a pair that rank in the top-10 in the league in blocks per set. Kasey Purry's 1.29 per is tops in the league, while Grace Doyle's 0.94, ranks eighth. Doyle also ranks third in the league averaging 0.44 aces per. Mikayla Weiss ranks eighth in the conference averaging 5.77 assists per set.
The Bulldogs rank second in the Mountain West in both blocks per set (2.42) and in service aces per set (1.81). FSU ranks in the lower-half of the league in all other statistical categories.
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