(Riverton, WY) – Central Wyoming’s Volleyball team concluded their slate of 2024 home games this past week on Friday and Saturday. Friday’s game against Laramie County Community College was a “Pink Night”, which held a theme of bringing awareness to Breast Cancer. Rustler gymnasium was decked out in the appropriate colors, from fans sporting CWC Volleyball t-shirts that were being sold to support the cause, to both teams donning their pink jerseys, everyone in attendance participated in the acknowledgement.
Even though Halloween wasn’t until the next week, fans in attendance Friday night experienced a treat. The Rustlers were in their final home stretch of conference play, making each of their four remaining conference games just as crucial as the next. Visiting LCCC boasted a 5-3 Region IX conference record, and before the match was tied for second place in the conference.
The first set of the match set the tone for how the rest of the night was to play out, rivaling that of a double espresso shot and splash of cold water. The Rustlers and Golden Eagles each showed exciting feats of resilience, bending but not breaking from the pressure one put on the other. From a set that could’ve easily gone past 30 points, LCCC was the first to pull ahead by two points to secure a 27-29 first set win.
From that point on, it was clear that this was anyone’s game. Central Wyoming dominated in the second set, 25-21, but dropped a frustrating third set, 22-25, despite having three more kills and 11 more total attempts than LCCC. The Rustlers switched to a whole other gear once the fourth set began, fueled by the three-headed beast of Presley Ryan, Ryann Vail and Khloe Hobson, who each recorded double digit kills throughout the match and combined for 46 of the team’s 62 total kills. The Rustlers rolled to a 25-20 fourth set win, and put the match away with a no-doubt 15-9 fifth set victory.
Saturday’s match against first place Eastern Wyoming College was CWC’s last home game of the 2024 fall season. The afternoon’s theme was “Sophomore night”, which saw the Rustlers honor each of the four sophomores on their roster. Bella Torres, Ryann Vail, Khloe Hobson and Kaela Small were the four recognized, each accompanied by family members and brought out in a pre-game ceremony.
This was a game that presented the opportunity for the Rustlers to send off their sophomores with one last home win and take down the top ranked team in the conference in the process. And Central Wyoming had a very good shot to accomplish both, as they kept pace with the high-powered Lancers right out the gate, meeting every attack opportunity from EWC with a defensive stand, and returning forceful offensive spikes to the stalwart Eastern Wyoming defense. Despite the valiant effort from CWC, three straight sets went in favor of EWC.
Following this loss, the Rustlers dropped down to 5-5 in conference play, and are currently in a tie for third with LCCC and Casper College. They travel to Powell Tuesday, October 29 to take on Northwest College, and wrap their regular season up on Friday, November 1 at Gillette College.
Cross Country
This past weekend, the CWC Cross Country team made the trek to Alamosa, Colorado to compete in the Region IX “Regionals” competition. 2023 NJCAA Cross Country National Champion Trinidad College was in attendance, as well as Southeast Nebraska Community College. Kallee Cook ran her way to a third place finish, and received All-Region recognition for her performance. Zander Hinkley and Azania Guthrie both ran personal record times at the eight kilometer distance.
On the Schedule this Week:
- Volleyball
- Women’s Basketball
- Friday, Nov. 1st– HOME vs SLCC @ 7:30pm
- Saturday, Nov. 2nd– HOME vs Western Nebraska CC @ 4pm
- Men’s Basketball
- Friday, Nov. 1st– vs USU Eastern (5pm) @ Rock Springs, WY
- Saturday, Nov. 2nd– vs Lamar CC (12pm) @ Rock Springs, WY