UW Sweeps Rumble in Rockies With Wins over Texas Tech, St. Thomas

LARAMIE -- The Wyoming Cowgirls made it a 2-0 weekend to begin the 2026 campaign as they finished the Rumble in the Rockies with a clean sweep over St. Thomas Sunday afternoon. Set scores were 25-20, 25-21 and 25-17.

Get our free mobile app

St. Thomas got out to an early lead to begin the match, leading by as many as five points, twice in the beginning stages of the first set. However, the Cowgirls (2-0) would respond with a 7-2 run to knot things up at 14 apiece in the opening set. From there, another 7-2 run would push UW in front, 21-17 and wouldn’t let the Tommies get to within less than two points the rest of the frame.

The second set followed a similar script, as St. Thomas took an early 9-5 lead. But again, the Cowgirls would respond to eventually take a 13-11 lead and wouldn’t relinquish the lead from there. Despite the Tommies tying the set at 21-21, Wyoming would close out the second with four consecutive points to take a 2-0 lead in the match. The Cowgirls dominated the third, leading wire-to-wire to close out the match. UW led by as many as eight points in the third and closed the match on a 4-1 run.

Wyoming blistered the nets offensively, hitting .437 in the win. The Cowgirls hit .542 in the third set alone. St. Thomas hit .233 in the contest. UW also enjoyed a 6-3 blocking advantage in the sweep and had one more ace than the Tommies while also committing one fewer service error.

Paige Lauterwasser and Emma Winter paced the Cowgirl attack with 13 and 12 kills, respectively. The duo also hit .660 and .706, respectively on the day and committed just one attack error. Lauterwasser also eclipsed the 1,000 career points mark in the match. Reagan Sharp added eight kills and hit .583 while also leading the Cowgirl defense with four total blocks. Ruby Jensnen added three blocks.

Rya Fingerlin led Wyoming with 15 digs on the day and also had a team-best two service aces. Lauterwasser chipped in with seven digs. Lauterwasser, Anna Melgren and Sara Quigley all had an ace as well in the victory.

Quigley led Wyoming with 19 assists against the Toms while Maddy Stucky had 17.

Next up, the Cowgirls will hit the road for the first time this season. Wyoming will travel to Utah for the Utah Classic for matches Friday, Saturday and Sunday. UW opens the tournament with a 7 p.m., contest against the host-Utes.

Cowgirls Wreck Red Raiders in Four to Open 2026

It was a successful opener to the 2026 season Friday night for the Wyoming Cowgirls as they downed Texas Tech in four sets in front of a raucous Arena-Auditorium crowd. Set scores went 25-21, 14-25, 25-11 and 25-15.

Wyoming came out firing in the first set, opening up an early four-point advantage at 14-10. After a Texas Tech rally eventually put the Red Raiders in the lead at 16-15, the Cowgirls would surge back in front, taking a 19-16 advantage. From there, TTU would get to within one, at 20-19 before four consecutive UW points made it 24-19 and it would close out the set from there.

Texas Tech would respond in the second, never trailing in the set to tie the match at one set apiece. In the third set, it was all Cowgirls as they scored the first five points of the frame and dominated from start-to-finish, opening as big as a 14-point lead, at 20-6. The fourth followed a similar script as the first with both teams trading points in the early stages. Eventually, the Brown & Gold took control, breaking a 10-10 tie with four consecutive points and didn’t trail the rest of the match.

UW hit .276 on the night and held the Red Raiders to just a .074 clip. Texas Tech also hit negative in the third and fourth sets. The Cowgirls recorded 16 more kills, six more digs and two more blocks than TTU did in the match. Texas Tech did have a 6-5 service ace advantage and also committed four fewer serving errors.

Paige Lauterwasser paced the Cowgirl offense with an efficient attack in the win. Lauterwasser recorded a match-high 14 kills and hit .423 on the night. She is now seven points from joining the 1,000-Point Club in program history. Lauterwasser also recorded a double-double with 13 digs.

Ruby Jensen and Emma Winter added eight kills each while Addy Thorington tallied seven. Off the bench, Kristina Bozovic registered five kills and hit .500. Winter hit .412 on the evening and added three block assists. Jensen tallied four blocks while Rylee Heinz paced UW at the net with six total blocks while hitting .357 on offense to go along with six kills.

Rya Fingerlin, making her debut as the Wyoming libero, led the contest with 14 digs. Maddy Stucky and Thorington led the Cowgirls with a pair of aces. Stucky also added 17 assists in the win while UW was led by Sara Quigley’s 24 assists.

Watch Wyoming Athletics all season long on the MW+ with all UW home games and all MW conference games on the state-of-the-art app. Fans will also find replays of games, Ragtime Replays featuring great contests in Wyoming history along with other exclusive content. A majority of each subscription purchased through Wyoming's dedicated page will directly support Wyoming Athletics and the Cowboy Joe Club, creating a scalable and sustainable revenue opportunity aligned with fan engagement.

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