It was arguably the most heartbreaking loss of the season so far for the Wyoming volleyball team as it fell to the UNLV Rebels in five sets on Thursday night, 22-25, 25-15, 21-25, 25-17, 10-15.
The Cowgirls had three players in double figures, led by reigning Mountain West Conference Player of the Week Jodi Purdy who totaled 13 kills and 10 digs. Redshirt freshmen Calli Miller and Reese Roehrkasse added 11 kills and 10 kills respectively, according to Wyoming Athletics.
Sophomore libero Jadranka Tramosljanin added a career high of 31 digs, and senior middle blocker JennaRae Jester led the team with six blocks.
The Cowgirls went down 17-10 in the first set but came back to even the score at 18-18 before UNLV finally came out on top, 25-22. The first set did not seem to rattle Wyoming as they dominated the second set en route to a 25-15 win.
The Rebels would not let the Cowgirls continue their momentum through the third set and fended off the Wyoming squad for a 25-17 victory. The Cowgirls evened the match at two sets apiece by winning the fourth set, 25-17, and took the contest into the fifth and final set.
Wyoming (17-3, 3-2) got out to a 3-0 lead in the fifth set and looked primed to finally take care of the Rebels, but UNLV would not be pushed aside and eventually got the best of the Cowgirls.
Despite the tough loss against the Rebels, Wyoming was determined to rebound when they faced off against Air Force on Saturday night.
The Cowgirls came out strong, not wanting to lose two straight conference matches on the road. “We were able to refocus on what we had to do. It’s not any secret that we know how tough road wins are,” Head Coach Carrie Yerty said. “We got caught in a lull [against UNLV] and were able to reevaluate where we are in practice and what kind of team we want to be.”
The team swept the Falcons, 25-20, 25-21, 25-20.
Sophomore outside hitter Purdy once again led the Cowgirls with 13 kills while senior middle blocker Jester added five blocks and three service aces.
The Falcons proved to be a handful for the Cowgirls, scoring in the twenties in each set, but the Cowgirls overcame adversity and prevailed in the end.
New Mexico and Texas Christian will be visiting Laramie this week with the Lobos on Thursday night and Horned Frogs on Saturday. Thursday’s matchup is scheduled for 7 p.m. in the UniWyo Sports Complex and Saturday’s showdown with TCU is at 1 p.m.
Email: Zach Greubel