UW roundup: Cowgirls beat Falcons

by Wyoming Sports.org

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- The Wyoming Cowgirls moved to 2-2 in Mountain West Conference volleyball play with a four-set win over Air Force Saturday night.

The Cowgirls, 3-10 overall, didn’t exactly dominate the Falcons (0-6, 4-13), but did enough to get the win, 25-21, 25-23, 22-25 and 25-20.

“I think Air Force played a nice match, plus I thought the crowd created a nice environment,” said UW head coach Carrie Yerty. “Even though we won the first two sets, we never really had rhythm in this match. Obviously, Dani Bedore did a great job on the offensive side of the court and really gave us a lift. Lauren (Whitney) did a nice job with her energy and stepping out of her comfort zone playing in the back row. We are going to feel good about this victory and now we will start preparing for two very good teams next week.”

Two players finished the night in double-figures for the Cowgirls, led by Bedore, who finished with 19 kills and tied a career high 12 digs, while hitting .390 (19-3-41) for the match. Whitney added 15 kills and seven digs, while setter Tasha Weishahn had a career high nine kills along with 45 assists and 14 digs. Wyoming hit .253 (60-23-146) for the match.

Air Force was led by Michelle Harrington with 13 kills and six total blocks, while Nichole Stilwell and Jasamine Pettie each recoded 11 kills. The Falcons hit .169 (51-26-148) for the match and out blocked the Cowgirls 6-2.

Wyoming returns home next week against New Mexico on Thursday and TCU on Saturday. Both matches begin at 7 p.m. at the UniWyo Sports Complex.

Tennis team concludes Air Force tourney
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- The Wyoming Cowgirl tennis team wrapped up the second and final day of the Air Force Invitational on Saturday.

“We played a lot of good tennis today,” said head coach Kati Gyulai. “We fought through difficult conditions and won a lot of matches. We are excited about the improvements we have made in the past week and look forward to going to Salt Lake to compete in the Central Regional tournament.”

UW’s Brittany DeFelice and Virginia Iwinski lost their match against Alexandra Kichoutkin and Anastasia Erofeeva (TUL), 8-4, but went on to defeat Jill Kappel and Jennifer Whateley (UNC), 8-4, for third place in the blue doubles flight. In the fifth place back draw, the Wyoming team of Jamie Nelson and Carolina Chaix won opening match against Bhavani Tirumurti and Mikele Smith (DU), 8-2, but came up short against the Air Force team of Thalia Smoke and Allie Chermel, 8-3.

In the second draw of doubles, the Cowgirls’ Sarah Summerfield and Carly Van Hollen lost their first match to Monica Milewski and Camila Belassi (CU), 8-1, and then also came up short against Tabatha Knop and Manuela Santos, 9-7. Rebecca Berger and Ronnie Spencer lost their one match to Rebecca Row and Ewa Szatkowska (Tulsa) 8-1.

In the quarterfinals of the silver singles draw, DeFelice fell to Marta Marcinkowska (Tulsa), losing 6-1, 7-5. She continued on to the third place back draws, winning third by battling against Jie Zeng (TUL), 7-5, 2-6, 10-7. Nelson lost her quarterfinal match to Yulia Gavenko (TUL), 6-1, 1-6, 7-5 but also went on to win third place by beating Erlyn Rudico (AFA), 6-1, 6-1. Chaix had a very successful day by earning a two set victory, 6-3, 6-4, over Katie Brown (CSU).

Summerfield won both of her matches in the back draws with a victory over Christen Monreal (AFA), 6-4, 7-5, and another two set victory, 6-3, 6-4 over Christine Abayan of Air Force. Iwinski won her only match of the day, beating Kirsten Stople (CSU), 6-2, 7-6 (3).

Van Hollen was a tough competitor in the back draws, but came up short against Tori Arneson (CSU), 2-6, 6-2, 11-9 and Tiffany Knop (UNC), 6-1, 6-2. Berger lost to Thalia Diaz-Barriga (TUL) in a tough three set match 6-3, 2-6, 10-7, while Spencer came up short her only match of the day against Jill Kappel (UNC), 6-0. 6-1.

The Cowgirls have a weekend off before heading to the Central Regional Tournament, Oct. 18-22, in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Regional Tournament will mark the end of the fall season for the team.

Cowboy golfers off to slow start
PALM DESERT, Calif. -- The University of Wyoming men’s golf team, struggled in the opening day of the inaugural University of Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate at the Classic Club.

The Cowboys are 18th after shooting rounds of 318 and 316, a two-round total of 634 (+58).

“Everything went well today with the exception of how we played,” said UW Director of Golf Joe Jensen. “This tournament has a great field, and I can’t say enough about this PGA Tour Caliber Course. The Classic Club has been very accommodating and we are looking forward to building a long term relationship with them.”

Leading the Cowboys on Saturday was sophomore Zach Zaremba. Zaremba shot rounds of 76 and 79 for a two-round total of 155 (+11). He is currently tied for 47th place. Sophomore Phil Henzlik was the Cowboys second best finisher with a two round, 13-over par, total of 157 (82+75). Redshirt sophomore Max Curnow, who is playing as an individual, also shot a 157 (76+81) on the day.

Colorado State leads the tournament after the opening two rounds by shooting rounds of 298 and 292 for a total of 590 (+14). Oregon State is currently in second place with a total of 593 (+17) and UC Santa Barbara is in third with a total of 596 (+20).

Individually, Washington State’s Kevin Tucker leads the tournament with a two round total of 141 (-3). Nick Nelson of Utah Valley University is in second place (144, E) and Denver’s Daniel Wax is in third place (145, +1).

The tournament concludes Sunday with a 7:45 a.m. shotgun start.

Young UW runners compete at CU
BOULDER, Colo. -- The University of Wyoming cross country teams, represented by five freshmen, competed at Rocky Mountain Shootout on Saturday.

“I was happy with the way our freshman came out today and ran against some of the big dogs in the conference,” said UW head coach Randy Cole.

The Cowboys were led by Laramie native Ryan Griesbach with a 38th-place finish in 27 minutes, 21 seconds in the 8k race. He was followed closely by Philemon Kimutai, who placed 45th in a time of 27:32. Rounding up the field for the Pokes was Brian McGuire, who was 52nd in 27:46.

The Cowgirls were led by Molly Lux in 88th place in 26:45 in the 5.8k race. Alexandria Kesterson was 93rd in 27:38.

“It was a really good experience for these freshmen to run on such a tough course and against such stiff competition,” said Cole.

Wyoming will return to action at the Pre-National Invitational in Terre Haute, Ind., on Oct. 18. Several top-ranked teams in the nation are expected to compete.

“I am really excited to see how we perform next week as our guys and girls have had an extra week to get ready for the Pre-National race in Indiana,” said Cole.