Oct. 28, 2006
Box Score
USAF ACADEMY, Colo. - Members of the freshman class led nearly every statistical category, but the Air Force volleyball team dropped a three-game decision to Wyoming in conference action on Saturday, Oct. 28, at the Academy. Still searching for the first elusive victory in league action, the Falcons succumbed 30-21, 30-20, 30-14 to the visiting Cowgirls.
Freshman Katie Batchelder led the Falcons with 10 kills and a team-best .125 hitting percentage. Classmate Michelle Harrington, who was second on the team with four kills, led the team with three blocks, including a pair of solo stops. Fellow freshman Hannah Sorber, making her second straight start in the starting rotation, led Air Force with 18 assists and 12 digs. She also accounted for one of the Falcons' three aces (sophomore Kristina Stewart posted up the other two).
Air Force came out strong in the first game, quickly ringing up a 5-3 lead, behind Sorber's ace and kills from Batchelder and classmate Jocelyn Booker. Wyoming tied things up and the two squads traded the points to match the score at 11. Wyoming pulled out to an 18-13 lead following a long serving streak. Another run by the Cowgirls put the Falcons in a 10-point deficit. Three straight attack errors from Wyoming pulled Air Force to within seven, but the Cowgirls went onto win 30-21.
Harrington put down the first kill of the second set and the back-and-forth scoring began once more. The score was even at two and three, before kills from Batchelder and Booker, as well as a block by Booker and sophomore Jasamine Pettie, put the Falcons out to a 6-3 lead. Wyoming tied the score at eight and took its first lead of the game at the 9-8 mark. Air Force tied it once more at 10 and reclaimed the lead with a block by Harrington and Sorber. A Stewart ace propelled the Falcons to 12-10, but the Cowgirls netted the game at 12. The two teams played tight throughout the next several points. Sorber made a diving save on a wayward ball, sending it back over the net and Harrington tallied the impressive solo block on the ensuing attack to keep the Falcons within one (18-17). Wyoming held the Falcons there while scoring the next five points to expand its margin and earn the 30-20 win.
Stewart struck first in the third, but Wyoming answered. Holding Air Force at four points, the Cowgirls quickly ran their lead out to 13-4. Pettie put down a kill, but Wyoming soon doubled the score at 20-10. Despite two more kills from Batchelder and a pair of unforced Wyoming errors, the Cowgirls took the final game by a 30-14 margin.
The Falcons have a short week, as the team heads up I-25 for a showdown with conference rival Colorado State. Air Force will face the Rams on Thursday, Nov. 2 - its only match of the week.
