Cowgirls Take Care of South Dakota State in Four Sets

* University of Wyoming press release

LARAMIE -- The Wyoming Cowgirl volleyball team made it a 3-0 weekend to kickoff the 2023 season as it concluded the Rumble in the Rockies Tournament with a 3-1 victory Saturday night over South Dakota State. Set scores went 25-11, 19-25, 25-17 and 25-22.

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Wyoming (3-0) dominated the first set, leading from start-to-finish and scored 20 of the final 28 points in the set to jump out to an early lead in the contest.

After stumbling in the second, the Cowgirls once again got off to a hot start in the third set, scoring the first six in the frame and never leading by fewer than three points to cruise to a victory. The fourth, however, ended up being a battle as it was the Jackrabbits turn to open with a big lead as they scored the first seven points in the fourth.

From there, the Cowgirls slowly reeled SDSU in, tying the match at 11-11 before taking the lead on a Skylar Erickson service ace to make it 14-13.

From that point, Wyoming didn’t trail the rest of the set, however, SDSU would tie things late at 22-22. UW responded when it mattered most, clinching the victory with the final three points of the set as the Jackrabbits had back-to-back miscues before Holly Eastridge put things away with her seventh kill of the evening.

The Cowgirls ended up with three with double figure kills as Sarah Holcomb paced the offense with 14 on a .500 attack percentage. Rylee Schulz added 13 to go along with a team-high two service aces while Corin Carruth had 11 kills.

Tierney Barlow added eight kills and hit .727 while also leading Wyoming at the net with six total blocks. Eastridge added four blocks while Holcomb chipped in with three blocking assists.

For the match, UW hit .328 as Kasia Partyka spearheaded the offense with 46 assists. Partyka also had five kills and seven digs in the victory. Erickson led the way in the back row with 13 digs while Sierra Grizzle added eight.

As a team, the Cowgirls out-hit, out-blocked and out-served the Jackrabbits. UW had an 11-8 advantage in team blocks and had five aces to SDSU’s two.

Wyoming held South Dakota State to a .207 hitting clip with most of the damage being done offensively by the Jackrabbits in the second set.

For their efforts, the Cowgirls landed three on the all-tournament team in Barlow, Partyka and Schulz. Barlow led UW in the three matches with 35 kills and 12 blocks while hitting .585. Schulz had 32 kills, four aces and averaged 2.20 digs per set. Partyka, meanwhile, led the Cowgirls to a .328 team hitting percentage and averaged 12.5 assists per set over the weekend.

With the three wins this weekend, Wyoming has already matched the amount of home victories it accumulated last season.

The Cowgirls now take the show on the road next weekend as they travel to the Texas Tech Red Raider Classic. UW opens the tourney at 10 a.m., Friday against Texas A&M-Commerce.