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The Cowgirls were on track to win their fourth Mountain West Conference game until the fifth game jitters overcame them.
The Cowgirls fell 3-2 (26-24, 20-25,25-20, 11-15) to the Runnin’ Rebels of Nevada-Las Vegas Thursday night, dropping their overall record to 4-18, and 3-10 in the MWC. UNLV, meanwhile, improved to 15-12, and 8-6 in the MWC.
A disappointed Wyoming head coach Carrie Yerty credited her team’s performance, but said that her team needs to find a way to win.
“Our kids play hard, I’m going to give them that, but when it comes down to sealing the deal, we have to be able to handle pressure and we have to be able to have someone who wants the ball every time and that can be a terminator and we don’t have that person right now,” Yerty said. “It’s almost as if they are hoping for the win, versus really going after it and getting it.”
Sophomore Dani Bedore started the game for the Cowgirls with a kill from the right side of the court and sophomore JennaRae Jester followed Bedore with two kills, but then Whitney took over.
The sophomore netted five kills and a block assists in game one, and finished the first set with an ace, on of her two in the game, as Wyoming took game one 26-24.
Wyoming jumped out to a 11-5 lead in game one, sparked by a 5-0 Cowgirl run before UNLV answered with three straight points to bring the game within three at 11-8.
Wyoming’s answer?
Three straight and four of the next five to extend their lead to 13-8.
The Rebels weren’t done, however. UNLV responded nailing eight of the next 10 points to tie the game at 15.
UW took a 17-15 lead before the Rebels took the next five points, giving them a 20-17 lead.
Wyoming, however, answered scoring eight of the final 12 points to take the 1-0 lead.
The Cowgirls couldn’t carry the momentum into the second game, however.
After the Cowgirls jumped out to a quick 5-2 lead, the Rebels answered with five straight, and controlled the rest of game two.
After a Cowgirl timeout, Wyoming answered with four straight to take a 908 lead, but UNLV won the next seven of 10 points to put the Rebels ahead 15-12.
Whitney connected on two kills to bring the Cowgirls within on at 14-15, but the Rebels took advantage of the Cowgirl errors to take game two 25-20.
Wyoming dug them into a whole, finishing the second game with 17 errors.
A halftime speech by Yerty brought on a brand new Cowgirl team in game three.
The Cowgirls jumped out to an 10-8 battle, and extended that to 15-9 before the Rebels woke up.
UNLV brought it within at 16-13, but a kill by Eley, two UW blocks and one UNLV error extended the Cowgirl lead to 20-13.
The Rebels mounted a small comeback, but Wyoming closed game three with a five-point victory at 25-20.
The Cowgirls found themselves down 14-6 early to start game four.
But Wyoming wasn’t going to let the Rebels have an eight-point lead for long.
The Cowgirls battled back to tie the game at 19, but UNLV used crucial UW errors to take a 24-20 lead, needing just one point to win game four.
Wyoming, however, again was not going to let the happen.
UW forced UNLV into four straight errors to tie the game at 24, but a kill and an ace from UNLV game the Runnin’ Rebels the 26-24 victory, sending the match into a winner-takes-all game five.
The Cowgirls started things off in game five with an error, but Whitney slammed home a kill to tie the game at one. UNLV, however, rallied of three straight points to take a 4-1 lead early.
The Rebels reached the eight-point mark first, forcing both squads to switch sides.
Wyoming took a 9-8 lead, but UNLV answered with three straight to take a 11-9 lead.
Despite a timeout by Yerty, the Cowgirls were unable to regain themselves, falling in the final set 15-11, dropping the match.
“I’m going to credit them [Cowgirls] for going five-games with a good team, but we’re good enough to beat that team tonight,” Yerty said. “Our team has got to be hungry.
“It’s not good enough to go five-games anymore. We’ve really improved from that and I know they play hard and give me everything they have.”
Whitney led the Cowgirls with 20 kills and three aces, while Bedore and Jester added 13 and 10 kills respectively.
Wyoming now awaits San Diego State on Saturday.
Yerty said she wants her team to learn for this loss in preparing them for SDSU.
“I don’t want them to forget it [game against UNLV], I want them to be able to refocus against SDSU. But, there will be a time against SDSU where it’s a critical time, either we’re going to have to get a serve in or we have to hit the ball in or be in the right defensive spot. I want them to know that they are going to be there and they can trust each other to be there.”
Wyoming and SDSU square off Saturday at 7 p.m. in the UniWyo Sports Complex.
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