UW volleyball looks to even MWC mark

Richard Anderson photo

Wyoming sophomore Jenna Arneson gets the spike past a Kansas player earlier in the season.

By Richard Anderson
Wyoming Sports.org

The Wyoming volleyball team hasn’t looked like a challenger with a 2-10 start. What the young Cowgirls have done at times this season, though, is turned a few heads with their competitive play.

A five-game loss to No. 13 Colorado State last week in Fort Collins not only surprised the Rams, but it continued to give the Cowgirls a boost of confidence. Wyoming will look to take that confidence to Air Force on Saturday night with a 7 p.m. matchup against the Falcons.

“I think from the very beginning of my tenure here, we talked about the things the fans would see is our team would be competitive and they would enjoy playing the game. They would continue to get better and that is what the fans are seeing right now,” Wyoming head coach Carrie Yerty said.

A first-year Cowgirl coach, Yerty has had a steadfast philosophy of not worrying about her team’s inexperience and just going out and playing hard. The Cowgirls came into the season losing about 90 percent of their offense due to graduation.

“We’re a small team, but we have huge heart,” Yerty said. “They really come to play. The girls are working hard to get better, they are working hard for me; they have bought into the system. When things are going into a steady situation upward, it is easy to be excited about seeing the progress.”

Wyoming, 1-2 in league play, surprised Utah in three games for the MWC win and have also taken strong programs such as Kansas, Alabama-Birmingham and Oregon State to five games before coming up short. To put things in perspective, CSU beat Florida at home two weeks ago in three straight when Florida was ranked eighth in the country.

“For our team to go into that environment and play well, it was really important for us,” Yerty said. “I’m just proud of the girls and their effort.”

Saturday’s match against Air Force is just Wyoming’s second contest in the past two weeks. Yerty said she wouldn’t have scheduled it that way, but it is actually working out to their benefit. She said October is such a hard month for fall sports in terms of the newness being gone, they can focus on court progression.

“On Monday, we had one of the hardest practices that we had in a long time and really got down to business and challenged the girls and took them out of their comfort zone,” Yerty said. “With just one match, it gives us the opportunity to train hard and in a sense, have a chance to do it in progression over the next 10 days versus three days and play and three days and play.”

The Falcons are 0-5 in league play and 4-12 overall after a three-set loss to Colorado State on Thursday night. They are led by Jasamine Pettie, who is averaging 2.52 kills per set and has 28 total blocks, while Nichole Stilwell is adding 2.08 kills and 31 total blocks. This is the 27th meeting between the two teams. Wyoming leads the series 21-5.

Despite the overall dominance, Yerty said the Cowgirls can’t take Air Force for granted.

“For us, a win to me, whether it is versus Utah or versus Air Force is all of the same to me,” she said. “In the win-loss column, it doesn’t say a win-plus for Utah or a win-minus for Air Force. Likewise for a loss. We’re taking it very seriously.”

The Cowgirls are led by sophomore outside hitter Dani Bedore, who is averaging 2.91 kills, which is 10th in the MWC, and 1.51 digs per set. She is followed sophomore Lauren Whitney, who is adding 2.72 kills and almost one dig per set.

Wyoming returns home next week with matches against New Mexico and TCU, which means that Saturday’s match with the Falcons is critical for the Cowgirls to get on a roll and move up in the MWC standings.

“Air Force isn’t one of the top teams in our conference and either are we, currently,” Yerty said. “For us, if we can pull off a win on the road, then we’re going to go into our next matches .500 in conference. That’s huge in terms of confidence building.”

Sister act: In somewhat of a rarity, the two teams have a pair of sisters on each side of the net. Wyoming freshman libero Nikki Sapp’s twin sister, Jasmine, is on the Air Force roster and Cowgirl junior libero Jessica Kagarise’s younger sister, Jennifer, is also on the Falcon roster.

“They are talking a little bit of smack back and forth,” Yerty said of the sisters. “It’s a little bit of pride, too.”