Cowgirls Wreck Red Raiders in Four to Open 2026

Wyoming dominates third and fourth set on way to victory 

LARAMIE, Wyo. (Aug. 28, 2026) – It was a successful opener to the 2026 season Friday night for the Wyoming Cowgirls as they downed Texas Tech in four sets in front of a raucous Arena-Auditorium crowd. Set scores went 25-21, 14-25, 25-11 and 25-15.

Wyoming came out firing in the first set, opening up an early four-point advantage at 14-10. After a Texas Tech rally eventually put the Red Raiders in the lead at 16-15, the Cowgirls would surge back in front, taking a 19-16 advantage. From there, TTU would get to within one, at 20-19 before four consecutive UW points made it 24-19 and it would close out the set from there.

Texas Tech would respond in the second, never trailing in the set to tie the match at one set apiece. In the third set, it was all Cowgirls as they scored the first five points of the frame and dominated from start-to-finish, opening as big as a 14-point lead, at 20-6. The fourth followed a similar script as the first with both teams trading points in the early stages. Eventually, the Brown & Gold took control, breaking a 10-10 tie with four consecutive points and didn’t trail the rest of the match.

UW hit .276 on the night and held the Red Raiders to just a .074 clip. Texas Tech also hit negative in the third and fourth sets. The Cowgirls recorded 16 more kills, six more digs and two more blocks than TTU did in the match. Texas Tech did have a 6-5 service ace advantage and also committed four fewer serving errors.

Paige Lauterwasser paced the Cowgirl offense with an efficient attack in the win. Lauterwasser recorded a match-high 14 kills and hit .423 on the night. She is now seven points from joining the 1,000-Point Club in program history. Lauterwasser also recorded a double-double with 13 digs.

Ruby Jensen and Emma Winter added eight kills each while Addy Thorington tallied seven. Off the bench, Kristina Bozovic registered five kills and hit .500. Winter hit .412 on the evening and added three block assists. Jensen tallied four blocks while Rylee Heinz paced UW at the net with six total blocks while hitting .357 on offense to go along with six kills.

Rya Fingerlin, making her debut as the Wyoming libero, led the contest with 14 digs. Maddy Stucky and Thorington led the Cowgirls with a pair of aces. Stucky also added 17 assists in the win while UW was led by Sara Quigley’s 24 assists.

Next up, the Cowgirls close the Rumble in the Rockies with a 1:30 p.m., contest Sunday against St. Thomas inside the Arena-Auditorium.

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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