Cowgirls on a roll
UW volleyball enters final week of regular season on a 6-match winning streak
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LARAMIE – The University of Wyoming volleyball team returned from Boise, Idaho, on Oct. 24 a bit of a defeated program. The 3-1 loss to the Broncos left the Cowgirls 16-6 overall and 6-4 in Mountain West play.
It also left Wyoming with almost no margin for error for a possible NCAA tournament bid.
“After our match with Boise, we basically felt like we needed to win them all,” UW coach Chad Callahan said. “We kind of painted ourselves into a corner a little bit. It’s been interesting because this team’s been pretty good in those types of situations. It puts some pressure on us, but it’s also made us tougher. For the most part we’ve managed it well.”
Actually, very well.
The Cowgirls have reeled off six straight wins, the second-longest winning streak for the team this season. At 22-6 overall and 12-4 MW, UW has climbed back into NCAA tourney contention with two home matches left in the regular season. Wyoming started the week at No. 49 in the NCAA RPI rankings, squarely on the tournament bubble.
Wyoming hosts UNLV at 1 p.m. today at the UniWyo Sports Complex and No. 13 Colorado State on Tuesday.
Wins over the Rebels (15-13, 8-8 MW) and Rams (23-3, 16-0 MW) would give Wyoming eight straight victories to close the regular season and winners of 9 of 10 overall. That would also include a win over a top-15 program.
Would that be enough?
“I don’t know if we have to (win both), but at the same time if we want to send a message to the NCAA selection committee that we are playing our best volleyball at the end of the year, two wins would certainly help that cause,” Callahan said.
Wyoming will face a UNLV today that started the year with similar postseason aspirations. But the Rebels went 4-5 over their final nine nonconference games and began the MW schedule feeling nothing less than 14 or 15 wins would be needed for the postseason. At 8-8, UNLV knows its season ends next week.
On Wednesday UNLV lost 3-1 to Colorado State in Las Vegas.
“They dropped some matches earlier in the year that made them realize that that (postseason) goal wasn’t necessarily attainable,” Callahan said. “But they’re extremely talented and all they have to do is put it together for one match to beat you.”
Wyoming 6-foot-2 freshman Reed Copeland continues to lead the MW and the nation in total blocks with 175 and blocks per set at 1.67 after collecting 13 in a win over Fresno State on Wednesday.
The Cowgirls have used a mixture of veterans and younger plays to reach 22 wins and Callahan said that won’t change in the next week.
“We’ve had some matches where our older kids have stepped up and done some great things and we’ve had some matches where our younger kids stepped in,” he said.
“It’s been a true team effort.”
