Volleyball Bears Sweep Regional Rival Wyoming
Oct. 18, 2006
GREELEY, Colo. - Four University of Northern Colorado volleyball players registered double-digit kills as the Bears team swept (30-24, 30-25, 30-28) past regional rival Wyoming Wednesday night at Butler-Hancock Sports Pavilion.
With the win Northern Colorado (10-9) improved to 9-6 all-time against the Cowgirls (8-11). The Bears have won three in a row against Wyoming since the rival was renewed after a 21-year break.
Taking a step outside of Big Sky Conference action, the Bears wasted no time grabbing a key early lead, hitting .383 (22-4-47) in the opening set on its way to the 30-24 win. That set was close early, however, as Wyoming led 17-16 before Dulcie Stone evened the match with a kill. That led to five straight points for the Bears, who never looked back after the surge.
Wyoming, who was coming off back-to-back five set losses to nationally-ranked BYU and Utah, kept the second set close and pulled to within 23-22 before a Lizzy Rhoads killed pushed the momentum back into the Bears favor. Northern Colorado eventually went up 29-23 before winning 30-25.
The Bears led 16-10 in the third set before the Cowgirls fought back, pulling to 27-26 on a kill by Angie Hellbaum, which forced a Northern Colorado timeout. But Stone had the answer out of the timeout with a kill and another kill by the junior outside hitter ended the set and match.
"Wyoming is a good team," Bears head coach Lyndsey Benson said after the match. "We were able to keep them out of their system tonight and that was the key for us."
Stone registered her team-leading 10th double-double of the season with 17 kills and 11 digs. She added two blocks and hit .235 (17-5-51). Rhoads added 11 kills and five blocks, moving her career blocks total to 307 which passed Cara Miller (303 blocks from 2000-03) for ninth on the Bears all-time list.
Meredith Alder and Lenay Goble added 10 kills apiece for the Bears who hit .258 as a team (Wyoming was held to just .171). Setter Kristen Schevikhoven registered an impressive 49 assists in just three sets.
Abby Mayne had a match-high 23 digs while freshman Breanna VanDerMost added 14.
Wyoming was led by 10 kills from Lauren Scott.
The Bears improved to 4-1 at home this season but won't play in Butler-Hancock again until Nov. 2. The team ends the regular season with four straight Big Sky home matches.
Northern Colorado is back in action this weekend at Northern Arizona (7-12, 3-6 Big Sky). The Bears topped the Lumberjacks 3-1 in Greeley earlier this season.
