Aug. 28—The University of Wyoming volleyball team opened the season Friday with a split while hosting the Rumble in the Rockies tournament.
The Cowgirls started with a three-set loss (25-17, 25-19, 26-24) to Saint Mary’s, before rebounding in the evening with a sweep of their own, besting Siena (25-14, 25-19, 25-17).
“Overall I thought the girls responded well (Friday) evening,” UW coach Chad Callihan said in a press release. “I thought there was good energy. We were pretty down after the Saint Mary’s match, but we felt like there were a lot of things that we could have done better.
“Not to have a lot of time in-between matches and for them to come in with the energy that they did says a lot about this group, and I think it will serve us well moving forward.”
The Cowgirls’ defense set the tone in the second match by holding Siena (0-2) to a negative-.097 attacking percentage as a team in the opening frame and recording seven team blocks. Jackie McBride led Wyoming with three kills and three blocks in that set. Wyoming hit .304 for the early lead.
Wyoming put forth a dominant effort by never trailing in the second set when 15 Cowgirls saw action and hit .448 as a team in the frame.
The third set was more of a battle for UW as it played a lot of younger student-athletes. However, the Cowgirls were able to respond an 8-3 run to push the advantage to 22-15. Following a Siena timeout, the Cowgirls closed out the set and the match.
Naya Shimé led UW with eight kills while hitting .412 to go with three solo and two block assists defensively. Teresa Garza provided a spark off the bench with seven kills, and Faith Waitsman added five kills and hit .571.
The Cowgirls played all three setters against the Saints and were led by Payton Chamberlain’s 15 assists. Abby Olsen added nine as UW hit .397 for the match. Defensively, the Cowgirls tallied 16 team blocks and held Siena to a .233 hitting percentage.
In the back row, Garza led the way with eight digs. Kaitlyn Gehler added six digs and Shimé chipped in with five.
Saint Mary’s (2-0) controlled much of the Cowgirls’ first match and withstood a late charge by UW in the third set.
Waitsman led the Cowgirls with 10 kills while hitting .429 and also tallied three block assists. Shimé and Hailey Zuroske added seven kills each, while McBride had six kills and five blocks.
UW hit .266 in the match, while the Gaels hit .307 as a team. Chamberlain led the way with 19 assists against Saint Mary’s and Kyra Slavik added 14. Gehler led the back row with eight digs.
“Defense. Going back to the first match today, we dug at 36% and our goal is well over 50%,” Callihan said. “We weren’t in the right ballpark there, so both blocking and digging, those areas we have to improve, and they will.”
Wyoming will play both teams again today at 10 a.m. against Siena and 6:30 p.m. against Saint Mary’s.