Rivalry Volleyball: Wyoming at CSU Wednesday

The Wyoming Cowgirls volleyball team (7-3 overall) continues its long road swing this week heading to rival Colorado State (8-0 overall) on Wednesday evening at 7 p.m. MT, to open Mountain West play. UW will then head to Colorado Springs, Colo., to take part in the Air Force Invitational on Friday, as the Cowgirls will face UC Riverside (1-8 overall) at 10 a.m. MT, followed by a meeting with Utah Valley (2-8 overall) in the night cap at 8 p.m. MT.

The Cowgirls went 1-2 last weekend at the Hoosier Classic in Bloomington, Ind. UW opened the tournament with a four-set loss (17-25, 25-23, 21-25, 22-25) to host Indiana. The Cowgirls followed up with a five-set loss to UAB (25-23, 17-25, 25-16, 25-27, 13-15) on Saturday morning. Wyoming closed out the tournament with a four-set (25-21, 25-18, 21-25, 25-19) win over Tennessee State.

After the tournament, senior Reese Plante was named to her third consecutive All-Tournament team. Junior Erin Kirbyhad an impressive tournament defensively for UW, as the middle blocker recorded 28 total blocks, as she continues leads the nation in that category. The Cowgirls as a team also lead the nation in blocking at 3.22 blocks per set.

Senior Becky Stewart has 1,257 digs in her career after recording 69 digs last weekend at Indiana. She only needs 22 more digs to pass Jodi Purdy (1,278) for the most in school history. Stewart leads the Mountain West and ranks 35th in the nation in digs averaging 5.08 per set.

Colorado State comes into Wednesday night's contest ranked 22nd in the latest AVCA Top-25 Coaches Poll released on Monday. The Rams are 8-0 on the season having only lost four sets on the year. CSU returns to action after a week off, as the Rams were at Denver last Tuesday, as they defeated the Pioneers in four sets. The following night Colorado State hosted Missouri State, as CSU took down the Bears in three sets. The Rams feature an explosive offense leading the Mountain West in both kills and hitting percentage (.334). Sophomore Adrianna Culbert leads the Rams' offensive charge, as she leads the team with 101 kills averaging 3.61 per set. Jaime Colaizzi paces a balanced defensive attack for CSU, as the sophomore adds 3.61 digs per set, recording 101 digs on the young season.

The Highlanders head into Friday with a record of 1-8 on the season. UC Riverside lost its first eight matches to open the season. The Highlanders picked up their first win of the 2013 campaign last Saturday defeating Winthrop in four sets at the Bankers Classic hosted by Pacific. UC Riverside lost the first two matches of last weekend, falling to Pacific and San Jose State in three sets. Ashley Cox leads the UC Riverside offense averaging 3.23 kills per set, as the outside hitter has 97 kills on the season. Defensively, Maddie Hubbell leads the Highlanders averaging 4.13 digs per set.

Utah Valley heads into Friday evening's match up sporting a 2-8 record on the season, as the Wolverines have dropped five straight contests. UVU hosted the Wolverine Classic last weekend in Orem, Utah. Utah Valley lost all three contests during the weekend falling to Idaho State in five sets, and UC Irvine and Utah in four sets. The Wolverines will be in action Tuesday night, as they face rival Weber State. Macky Treanor leads UVU in kills averaging 3.69 per set, as the freshman has recorded 133 kills on the season. McKenna Tait is the Wolverine's defensive leader, as the libero averages 3.67 digs per frame.