by staff–29 Aug ’16
Despite trailing early in the first set, the University of Wyoming volleyball team stormed back for a straight-set (27-25, 25-13, 25-23) victory over North Dakota State on Monday evening in the UniWyo Sports Complex. In front of 1,129 spectators, senior Kayla Slofkiss had a game-high 11 kills during the win.
“We seemed to settle in a bit about half way through the first set,” UW head coach Chad Callihan said. “I thought our group did a very nice job from the service line tonight. We produced ten service aces and when we weren’t immediately getting points from it, we were keeping them out of system which allows us to get our defense set a little more. We had addressed that in the pregame, and it was nice to see us go out and execute it.”
Senior Laura Beach and sophomore Emily Lewis each slammed home eight kills for UW (1-3), while sophomore Reed Copeland added seven. Senior Courtney Chacon ran the offense for Wyoming, and dished out 32 assists against the Bison.
Junior Lily Austin led the team in both digs (ten) and services aces (four). Slofkiss added three aces for the Cowgirls, while Beach, sophomore Mattison DeGarmo and Lewis recorded one each. Copeland had a team-high three blocks on the evening, as Chacon and DeGarmo each had two for the Brown and Gold.
In the opening set, Copeland gave UW the advantage with four kills, while Slofkiss and Lewis each chipped in three. Chacon passed out 13 assists, before ten in the second frame. Slofkiss added four kills in the second set to pace the Cowgirls, as Austin had four digs. In the final stanza, Beach recorded five kills, as Slofkiss had four and Chacon led UW with nine of her 32 assists to complete the sweep over the Bison.
The Cowgirls will next participate in the Sports Imports D.C. Kohl Classic beginning Friday, Sept. 2 in Columbus, Ohio. It will mark the first trip to Columbus for UW. Ohio State, BYU and LIU-Brooklyn will also compete in the tournament.
