Cowgirls ride into town to face No. 7 CSU
The CSU women’s volleyball team looks to lasso the Wyoming
Cowgirls at 7 p.m. at Moby Arena.
The ever-eventful Border War between the two Mountain West
Conference rivals features a nationally ranked team in No. 7 CSU
(12-1,4-0 MWC) and young team looking to prove itself in
Wyoming.
Wyoming (8-7, 2-2) has been good at times but is still looking
to find consistent play among its young players.
“We’re still young enough we don’t worry about the opponent a
whole lot,” said Wyoming head coach Pat Stangle. “We’re still
spending a lot of time on our side of the net.”
Wyoming has five freshmen with starting positions and two
seniors. Despite the new players, the Cowgirls are still a game
over .500. Stangle is also new, as he is in his first year as
Wyoming head coach. Stangle was an assistant with Washington State
when he faced CSU in the NCAA regional finals in 2000.
“I know they’re big and they’re physical,” Stangle said of CSU.
“You can’t be timid against a team like that.”
Freshman middle blocker Shelby Heggie leads the team with a .346
hitting percentage with 2.34 kills per game and is second on the
team with .71 blocks per game and four solo blocks. Fellow freshman
blocker Lauren Scott also has four solo blocks, 1.28 per game, with
a .292 hitting percentage. Senior outside hitter Sara Maytorena has
a .298 hitting record and has hit a total of 221 kills on the year,
3.38 per game.
“Including our libero, we start five freshman,” Stangle said.
“We’ve had to resign ourselves that we’re going to be good at times
and not good at times.”
As a team, the Cowgirls are hitting .265 with 15.21 kills per
game to the Rams .294 and 17.38. On the road, Wyoming has a 1-4
record, while the Rams are 7-1 at home. In their last road game,
the Cowgirls lost in five games to UNLV. Though they won game one
30-26, the Cowgirls lost game four 30-8.
“Wyoming is always a scrappy team,” said CSU senior outside
hitter Becky Sarauer. “It’s a pretty good rivalry I would say.
They’re going to be a different team than in the past.”
Junior outside hitter Tess Rogers is leading the team with 3.55
kills per game hitting .228. Rogers also has nine solo blocks to
lead the Rams.
“It’s the Border War,” Rogers said. “We got to do our best and
go out and compete against them.”
Wyoming head coach Stangle said he expects CSU to be tough.
“They’re ranked No. 7 in the country,” he said. “And they are
every bit deserving of it. They’re one of the best teams in the
country and that’s where we’d like to be some day. We’re going to
see where we stand.”
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