Rams cross border for conference match up
he Rams volleyball will ride north Friday to battle the Cowgirls
in the famous Border War in Laramie, Wyo., at 7 p.m. The Rams take
their 4-0 league record (13-4 overall) and put it on the line again
this time against Wyoming (13-6, 2-2 Mountain West) who enters the
game with high hopes.
Last weekend the Cowgirls beat SDSU and UNLV, and the most
recent win for the Cowgirls was Monday night against the Creighton
Blue Jays. They hope to give the Rams their first conference loss
of the season. Coach Jim Barnes and his team know this won’t be an
easy task, but they are up for the challenge.
“We need to have a couple of good practices over the next
several days and start preparing for Colorado State,” Barnes said
shortly after the win against Creighton. The Cowgirls will be
looking to MWC player of the week Jill Roslund to lead the charge
against the Rams. But the Rams have been doing some charging of
their own, as they continue to climb the USA Today/AVACA Division I
Coaches Top 25. The Rams previously owned the 25th rank but have
since moved to 22nd in the polls.
“It is good to be ranked with the big dogs,” said junior libero
Lindsey Kerr. “It’s going to be hard to move up in the polls
because our opponents aren’t ranked. But one thing that we can do
is keep on winning.”
The team hasn’t had a problem with winning so far, as the Rams
also come off an impressive weekend, beating both UNLV and SDSU.
The Rams game looks good thus far, but they won’t overlook the
Cowgirls.
“Wyoming is a big game for us,” said junior setter Melissa
Courtney. “They are playing really well right now and they always
seem to step their game up a notch when they play us.”
One advantage Wyoming has is the passion of the team’s fans,
which could be the loudest fans in the conference, making for a
very hostile environment. To simulate the environment, coach Tom
Hilbert had his team practice under dim lighting and played a CD at
its highest volume decibel.
“It’s going to be furious,” Kerr said, “But we are just going to
have to stay composed.”
“A lot of us have played there before, so we know what to
expect,” Courtney said.
If the Rams volleyball team could think of anything that would
help win this game, it would be the support of their fans.
“We love the support, and it helps to have big crowds,” Kerr
said.
Rams fans that couldn’t travel to Provo, Utah, for the football
game have the chance to head to the border to watch two teams
battle it out in a Mountain West showdown.
“We’re playing really well, and we’re ranked, and it’s going to
be a lot of fun,” Courtney said.
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