MWC Play Begins With No. 18 CSU, Wyoming

PROVO -- Starting Mountain West Conference play for the 2010 season, the BYU women’s volleyball team (3-9) will host No. 18 Colorado State (9-2) on Friday at 7 p.m. and Wyoming (13-1) on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Friday’s match against the Rams will be televised live on BYUtv.

“I’m happy to have ranked Colorado State on our home court to begin our conference season,” BYU head coach Shay Goulding said. “Wyoming is going to be good as well. They were a young team last year, but they have returned everybody. We are opening with some of the best teams in the conference and to have them at home is a good thing for our program. We are battle ready.”

The Rams are coming off their second loss of the season Friday night, dropping a five-set decision to the then-No. 24 Long Beach State 49ers.

The Cowgirls are coming off a three-set victory over the Idaho Vandals to win the Gonzaga Invitational Saturday. Jadranka Tramosljanin was named the MVP of the tournament, while Camille Coffman and Barbara Lasic earned All-Tournament Team honors.

“Wyoming has had a good preseason and are feeling good about themselves,” Goulding said. “I think they’re going to come in and play some aggressive volleyball.”

BYU leads the CSU series 48-24-1, losing both matches last year to the Rams, the last meeting being on Nov. 14, 2009. BYU leads the Wyoming series 65-4, with the Cougars sweeping the Cowgirls on Nov. 12, 2009 in the last matchup between the teams.

The last time out for the Cougars was a two-match trip to Hawai’i. For the first time in the 2010 season, the Rainbow Wahine was able to do what no team has this season - sweep the Cougars in straight sets. Playing at 11 p.m. MT, the Cougars were unable to come out with a set or match in Honolulu, falling 3-0 on Sept. 17-18.

“It was definitely a challenging preseason,” said Goulding. “We had the opportunity to see a lot of different people on the court and I feel like we’ve learned a lot. In spite of where we are at record-wise, I feel pretty confident going into conference play.”

After this weekend’s two-match homestand, the Cougars will host Utah for the first Deseret First Duel matchup of the 2010-11 season Oct. 1 at 7 p.m.