LARAMIE, Wyo. - The Black Hills State University volleyball team (5-8, 1-3 RMAC) dropped their third straight match at the hands of NCAA Division I opponent, the University of Wyoming Cowgirls on Tuesday night from Laramie, 3-0 (25-19, 25-22, 25, 13).

The Cowgirls used a consistant offensive attack as a team while hitting over a .280 average in every set, with their best set coming out of the gates in set one where UW went 16-of-35 on attacks with just four errors (.343 avg).

While the Jackets have experienced slow starts as of late since their last victory over Chadron St. on Sept. 24th, they have become most effective in the middle sets, which did not change on Tuesday.  In the second set, there were three lead changes and BHSU came within just three points of taking the set victory.

Set two was the closet they got all night against the Cowgirls who now own a 9-7 overall record (0-3 Mountain West).

Once again, senior captains Amy O'Neill and Caitlin Templeton provided the offensive threat for the Jackets as O'Neill had 11 kills and Templeton had 10.  However, the UW defensive was effective when holding both O'Neill and Templeton below their average kills per set on the year of 4.31 per set for O'Neill and 3.31 per set for Templeton.

Freshman setter, Brynn Eckhardt, remains in the top five in assists in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference but was held to her lowest assist total of the season with 20.  Coming into the match she was averaging a conference fourth-best, 10.63 assists per set.

Libero Kelsey Olson finished with a season-low 10 digs as Eckhardt and Shelby Mayer both had two blocks on the night. Redshirt freshman, Lacy Stevens, again stepped up off the bench to provide additional defensive support with nine digs as Meghan Sipe had nine digs as well along with four kills against her former UW team after having transferred to BHSU roughly two seasons ago.

Wyoming used the strong arms of Erin Kirby and Bridget Shanahan who both notched 11 kills each.  Both Kriby and Shanahan hit over .500 avg on the night after combining for 22-of-36 on attacks (.611 hitting-percentage).

Rachel Keyes did most of the setting for UW on the match and finished with 31 assists. Becky Stewert was the Cowgirls' lead defender with 17 digs and Nicole Walker came into the match and grabbed 10 digs.

The next match for the Jackets will come on the road on Friday at Colorado Mines at 7 p.m. MT.

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