Richard Anderson photo
Wyoming coach Carrie Yerty talks to freshman Lauren Curtis during a timeout Saturday.
By Richard Anderson
Wyoming Sports.org
You could hear it in her voice and in her words: The Cowgirls aren’t quite there yet, but they will be.
First-year Wyoming head volleyball coach Carrie Yerty sounded like a coach who had just swept the weekend, not losing both matches in three games each.
The Cowgirls, however, struggled offensively at times and fell to TCU 25-20, 25-14 and 25-21 . The loss was the second straight at home and dropped Wyoming to 2-4 in Mountain West Conference play and 3-12 overall. TCU, which lost in four games at Colorado State on Thursday, is 4-3 and 15-5.
“They give me everything they have. It’s my job to make this team better and we’re going to continue to work hard and we’re going to continue to build this program,” Yerty said. “These kids can walk with their head held high, they can be proud that they are Wyoming Cowgirls, they need to know that our future is bright, and we need to keep building so every day we get better, I believe in this team. I believe they have the heart of a lion and they have no reason to hang their head.”
The young Cowgirls went into the weekend on somewhat of a roll, with wins over Utah and TCU this year and playing well in a three-game loss to No. 24 BYU and a five-game loss to No. 13 Colorado State in Fort Collins.
As was the case in the three-game loss to New Mexico on Thursday, Wyoming struggled to get any kind of consistent offense going. When the Cowgirls would find some momentum, they couldn’t hold on to it.
“Tonight was tough. It was tough back-to-back losses in our conference, but I am proud of my girls,” Yerty said. “They come every day and work hard and compete to the best of their ability. I don’t feel like they ever give up. Sometimes we get beat. Tonight, we got beat.”
Wyoming hit just .028 on the night and of the Cowgirls‘ 26 kills, sophomores Dani Bedore (10 kills) and Lauren Whitney had 16 of them.
Yerty said the Cowgirls had a hard time working around TCU’s block at times and it took the wind out of their sails a little bit.
“You have to talk about experience here,” Yerty said. “ Lauren Whitney has moments of greatness and then she has moments of, ‘I’m a sophomore.’ It’s hard to go up against a big block and swing and get blocked and come back. I saw her tell Tasha (Weishahn), ‘set me again, set me again.’ I want that.
“ I think Dani goes out every time and she truly believes she is going to put the ball away or she truly believes she is going block. I think tonight, TCU was the better team, but we’re going to have other opportunities and we’re going to come back and fight every point and every play. We’re going to keep getting better.”
In the third game, the Cowgirls finally got some momentum and led 215-9 before the Lady Frogs came back. It’s still a learning process for the younger Cowgirls, senior libero Carissa Lee said.
“We’re still working on it. We still have a little more than a half of the season left, so there is definitely a lot of time. It’s more practice. We’ll get into the gym and keep working hard. That’s all you can do.”
The Lady Frogs were led by Christy Hudson and Lauren Otto with eight kills each. TCU had 40 kills on the night and hit .247.
Despite the tough night, Yerty was also impressed with the Cowgirl crowd that was estimated at 685.
“What an awesome Homecoming crowd,” she said. “Our fans just continually come out and cheer for us. The girls appreciate it and I certainly appreciate it. It helps to build our home court advantage.”
Wyoming hit’s the road Thursday at San Diego State and Saturday at UNLV.
---
LADY FROGS 3, COWGIRLS 0
TCU K A D B
Kourtney Edwards 5 0 2 4
Christy Hudson 8 3 8 0
Nirelle Hampton 5 30 7 4
Devon Kirk 7 0 1 4
Lauren Otto 8 1 11 3
Sarah Joeckel 3 0 3 1
Katelyn Blackwell 0 1 5 0
Megan Munce 1 3 12 0
Irene Hester 0 0 8 0
Team 40 38 50 16
Wyoming K A D B
Dani Bedore 10 0 6 3
Lauren Whitney 6 0 3 0
Tasha Weishahn 3 21 3 1
JennaRae Jester 3 0 0 0
Samantha Eley 0 3 8 0
Jenna Arneson 3 0 1 4
Jessica Kagarise 0 1 1 0
Carissa Lee 0 0 7 0
Lauren Curtis 1 0 0 1
Team 26 25 29 9
TCU 25 25 25 -- 3
Wyoming 20 14 21 -- 0
Attendance -- 685. Time: 1:20. Referees: Kim Pickering, Bill Peer.
No comments:
Post a Comment