LARAMIE, Wyo. (Oct. 27, 2015) – After two weeks on the road, the Wyoming volleyball team will return to the UniWyo Sports Complex for five of its last seven matches. The Cowgirls host Nevada on Thursday at 6:30 p.m., before welcoming San Diego State on Saturday at 1 p.m.
Wyoming has a 12-1 record at home this season and currently sports an eight-match winning streak. The last time UW held a streak of eight-straight wins in the UniWyo came in 2012. Only three times has Cowgirl volleyball won at least nine-consecutive matches at home in program history.
The Cowgirls defeated the Utah State Aggies last Thursday before dropping their most recent match in four sets to a tough Boise State team. The Broncos have only lost twice at home all season and three times in the past two years in MW matches played in Boise. Kayla Slofkiss led the team with double-digit kills in both matches. She posted a career-high 16 against Utah State en route to her ninth double-double of the year. Cori Aafedt connected for a career-high 33 assists against the Aggies, while Courtney Chacon finished two shy of her season-high with 26 against the Broncos.
Allison Waldvogel scooped up 50 total digs over the weekend to move into 10th place on the single-season list for the Cowgirls. She currently has 374 digs on the year. Laura Beach continues to hold her spot at the top of the all-time hitting percentage list for Wyoming volleyball. She leads the team with a .349 hitting percentage and has .368 for her career. Bridget Shanahan is inching towards 1,000 kills for her career, as 25 more will make her the 12th Cowgirl to accomplish the feat.
“We are focusing on these two teams taking it one weekend at a time,” UW head coach Chad Callihan said. “We struggled with defending the last time we saw Nevada and we didn’t produce enough points offensively to come away with a win. We are still a young team, but the freshmen have developed nicely over the last few weeks. It will be nice to have some players back that didn’t play the last time we faced these teams.”
Nevada (9-13, 4-6 MW) has won two of their last six since the last time it faced off against the Cowgirls. Madison Morell has 293 kills on the year, while Madison Foley is close behind with 261. Taylar Rothfuss has a team-high 590 assists, which is good for second in the MW with 10.33 per set. Morell and Foley are third and fifth, respectively, in the MW in kills per set. Morell also leads the league with 38 service aces on the season. San Diego State (7-16, 4-6 MW) has only won twice in its last 12 matches in Laramie. The Aztecs are led by Alexandra Psoma with averages of 2.53 kills per set. Hailey Jones has recorded 605 assists this season, as Deja Harris is the team-leader with 75 total blocks. Jones is eighth in the league with a 7.58 assists per set average, while Harris is 10th in hitting percentage with .280.