Cowgirl Rally Falls Short in Loss to South Dakota

Four-set loss snaps UW’s eight-match home winning streak

LARAMIE, Wyo. (Sept. 11, 2026) – The Wyoming Cowgirls’ eight-match home winning streak was snapped Friday night at the hands of South Dakota as a Wyoming rally fell short in a four-set defeat to the Coyotes. Set scores went 25-15, 25-17, 15-25 and 25-20.

After South Dakota controlled much of the first two sets Friday to stake an early 2-0 lead in the match, Wyoming looked to be on the comeback trail after taking care of business in the third set, pulling away late to force a set four. In the fourth however, USD was able to make the plays down the stretch, breaking a 14-14 tie with six consecutive points to take control of the set and closing out the match.

Wyoming (4-3) hit just .163 in the loss while South Dakota hit .248. The Cowgirls did have a narrow 9-7 team block advantage in the contest but had six fewer digs and three fewer kills. USD also had a 9-3 advantage in service aces, while committing just one more serving error.

Paige Lauterwasser paced the Cowgirl offense with 14 kills on the night and hit .313. Lauterwasser also recorded her second-straight double-double and third of the season as she tallied 13 digs. Rya Fingerlin led UW in that statistic, tallying 14 digs in the loss.

Emma Winter also finished with double-digit kills as she added 10 to go along with three block assists. Rylee Heinz chipped in eight kills, hit .412 and also had three blocking assists. Anna Williams tallied a career-best six total blocks.

Sara Quigley led the way from Wyoming’s two-setter offense with 23 assists and had one of UW’s three aces. Maddy Stucky had 12 assists. Off the bench, Peyton Carruth had an ace and five digs against the ‘Yotes.

UW shifts its attention now to the Border War Saturday as Colorado State comes to Laramie for a 7 p.m., contest to close the UniWyo Invite.

Watch Wyoming Athletics all season long on the MW+ with all UW home games and all MW conference games on the state-of-the-art app. Fans will also find replays of games, Ragtime Replays featuring great contests in Wyoming history along with other exclusive content. A majority of each subscription purchased through Wyoming's dedicated page will directly support Wyoming Athletics and the Cowboy Joe Club, creating a scalable and sustainable revenue opportunity aligned with fan engagement.

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