Cowgirl Volleyball Picked Third in MW

by staff-17 Aug ’16

Senior Laura Beach was named to the 2016 Preseason All-Mountain West volleyball team, announced by the conference Wednesday morning. The MW also released its predicted order of finish for the upcoming season, in which the Cowgirls were selected to finish third out of 11 teams.

Beach, a middle blocker from Lakewood, Colo., is one of seven student-athletes and the lone representative from Wyoming to be selected to the team, voted on by the 11 head coaches in the MW. She started in all 30 matches a season ago and had 11 with double-figure kills. Beach, earned All-MW honors for the second time after her junior campaign, and finished the year with 273 kills and 110 blocks. Additionally, she is the all-time leader in hitting percentage (.360) for Wyoming.

After concluding the 2015 season in third place in the MW and just missing the NCAA tournament, UW was selected to finish third overall in the conference in 2016. Wyoming fell behind Boise State and front-runner Colorado State. It marks the third-straight season that CSU has been named the preseason favorite.  CSU earned six of the possible 11 first-place votes, while Boise State received four and UW earned one.

UW’s annual Brown and Gold Scrimmage will take place Friday at 6:30 p.m. MT, in the UniWyo Sports Complex. The Cowgirls begin their season on Aug. 26-27 at the Purdue Mortar Board Premier in West Lafayette, Ind.

2016 All-Mountain West Preseason Women’s Volleyball Team

Player                                   Pos.                       Cl.           Team

Laura Beach                    MB                         Sr.           Wyoming

Sierra Nobley                       OH                          Jr.           Boise State

Maddy O’Donnell                MB                         Sr.           Boise State

Maddi Osburn                    L/DS                       Jr.           Boise State

Alexandra Poletto                MB                         Jr.           Colorado State

Bree Hammel                       MB                         Sr.           UNLV

Alexis Patterson                   S                              Jr.           UNLV

Preseason Player of the Year: Sierra Nobley, OH, Jr., Boise State

2016 Mountain West Preseason Women’s Volleyball Coaches’ Poll

Team (1^st Place votes)                    Points

1. Colorado State (6)                           96
2. Boise State (4)                                  92
3. Wyoming (1)                                     80
4. New Mexico                                      66
5. San Diego State                                 64

UNLV                                                 64

7. Nevada                                                47
8. Fresno State                                      35
9. Utah State                                          28
10. San Jose State                                    21
11. Air Force                                             12