Another tough five-set loss for Cowgirls

Richard Anderson photo
Wyoming sophomore Lauren Whitney looks to get the ball past the UNLV block on Thursday.

By Richard Anderson
Wyoming Sports.org

The odds just don’t seem to favor the Wyoming volleyball team when it approaches that fifth and deciding set. Would Thursday be the night the Cowgirls finally got over the hump?

Not quite. UNLV rallied to win the final two games to edge Wyoming 3-2 with a 24-26, 25-20, 20-25, 26-24 and 15-11 victory. The Cowgirls are now 0-7 this season in five-set matches, including 0-4 in Mountain West Conference play.

Once again, the Cowgirls (3-10 in the MWC and 4-18 overall) had their chance to put a team away, Wyoming head coach Carrie Yerty said.

“That’s exactly how our match with New Mexico (last week) went,” Yerty said. “Our kids played hard, I’ll give them that. When it comes down to sealing the deal, we have to be able to handle the pressure and we have to have somebody who wants the ball every time who can be a terminator. We don’t have that person right now. It’s almost like they are hoping for the win, versus going after it and getting it.”

The Cowgirls had big nights from senior libero Carissa Lee and sophomore outside hitter Lauren Whitney, but couldn’t quite get over the hump at crunch time.

Lee finished the night with 21 digs to become Wyoming’s all-time leader with 1,110 digs. She surpassed UW Hall of Famer Ronda Munger (1984-87), who had 1,108.

“My team is great. I can’t do anything without them,” Lee said. “If my block is there, they can get a touch on it and it makes defense so much easier. It’s definitely a team effort for everything we do.”

Whitney finished with 20 kills, but like the Cowgirls as whole, couldn’t quite get the big kill at the end. Wyoming hit just .151 on the night, including .000 in the fifth game.

“We just couldn’t convert on a couple of key points. We’re playing our hearts out, but it is just those couple of balls that we’re letting drop or making errors,” Whitney said.

Although they dropped the final two sets, the Cowgirls made a couple of nice rallies to get back in the game, only to come up short. Wyoming trailed by as much as six points midway through the fourth game, only to come back and tie the set four times, including at 24-24. A kill and a net hit by Wyoming, however, gave the Rebels the win.

Wyoming trailed 4-1 in the fifth game, but rallied for a 9-8 lead when sophomore Dani Bedore saved the ball on a sure kill, sending it straight up and off of the basketball bang board, with junior Jessica Kagarise diving and getting the ball over the net. The Cowgirls would then get a block for the lead.

What could have been a big momentum changer went for naught, as UNLV would rally for five straight points and basically clinch the win.

As has been the case all season, Yerty has credited her young team for playing hard and taking a good team to five games. But this time, she said, going five games isn’t good enough.

“We’re good enough to beat that team tonight,” Yerty said. “Our team has to be really hungry every time the ball is served, every time the ball is in play. It’s not good enough to go five enough any more. We’ve really improved from that. I know they play hard, they give me everything they have. But it is my job to teach them to play under pressure and obviously that is what we really have to focus on for the remainder of the season.”

Three other Cowgirls also hit in double figures, with Bedore finishing with 13 kills, followed by Jenna Arneson with 11 and JennaRae Jester with 10.

Sara Nehf led the Rebels (8-6, 15-12) with 17 kills. Erin Greenwood added 15.

The Cowgirls will look to close their home season on a good note Saturday when they host San Diego State, beginning at 7 p.m.

“Saturday, we are just going to keep focusing on ourselves,” Lee said. “We just need to clean up our game. If we focus on ourselves, we can pull it together and get a win.”