UW spikers travel south to face New Mexico, Air Force
* University of Wyoming athletics media relations release
LARAMIE -- The Wyoming volleyball team travels south for a pair of pivotal road matches this week before beginning a four-match homestand next week. The Cowgirls face New Mexico at 6:30 p.m., Thursday before heading to Air Force Saturday for a 1 p.m. contest.
UW (13-9, 5-5 MW) swept both UNM (15-6, 6-4 MW) and Air Force (5-15, 2-8 MW) in Laramie earlier this month. The Cowgirls are coming off a split in last week’s action, losing a five-set battle at UNLV to begin the week before rebounding with a sweep against San Diego State Saturday.
In the win over SDSU, head coach Chad Callihan recorded his 100th career Mountain West victory. UW hit a season-high .411 in the win over the Aztecs and were led offensively by Hailey Zuroske’s 11 kills. Jackie McBride and KC McMahon both hit .429 in the victory, while Lydeke King had six kills on just eight swings. Naya Shimé tallied 10 kills as the Cowgirls had a well-balanced attack in the sweep.
During league play this season, Shimé and McMahon rank seventh and ninth, respectively in the Mountain West in points per set at 3.77 and 3.19. McBride continues to swing the ball well, ranking third in conference play with a .399 hitting percentage, while her .346 hitting overall, ranks eighth-best.
Defensively, Erika Jones is third in the league during MW play averaging 3.92 digs per set, while King’s 1.02 blocks per, ranks eighth. At setter, Abby Olsen’s 6.67 assists per set ranks sixth-best in the MW during conference-only action.
McBride continues to climb up the all-time record books at UW as she moved into second on the all-time sets played list, playing in 470 for her career. McBride is also now just 53 kills shy of moving into the top-10 in career kills.
New Mexico leads the league in opponent hitting percentage (.154), kills per set (13.54) and digs per set (15.43). The Lobos also rank second in the MW in assists per set at 12.24 per.
Kaitlynn Biassou ranks second in the conference in kills (3.95) and points per set (4.71), and also ranks sixth in aces per set at 0.42. Uxue Guereca is ninth in the league in kills per set at 3.07 and eighth in points per at 3.59.
Alena Moldan is third in the Mountain West averaging 4.33 digs per set, while Melissa Walden's 8.45 assists per is fourth-best in the league. Avital Jaloba is fifth in the MW with a .363 hitting percentage.
Joi Harvey leads the Falcons and is third in the league with a .389 hitting percentage, while she also ranks second-best in the MW at 1.16 blocks per set. Allie Griffith's 2.88 digs per set ranks 10th in the league.
Air Force enters the week averaging 2.16 blocks per set, a mark that ranks sixth in the league. AFA also ranks second in the Mountain West in opponent digs per set at 11.99 in 2021.
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