PROVO -- In the 70th match-up between the BYU women’s volleyball team (3-11) and Wyoming (13-4), the Cougars came out with a 3-1 (22-25, 25-19, 18-25, 24-26) loss at the Smith Fieldhouse Saturday night. The last time Wyoming won in Provo was on Sept. 22, 1984.

Making her debut as a middle blocker, senior University of Arizona transfer Stephanie Snow led the team on the attack with 18 kills on a .552 clip. True freshman Jennifer Hamson tallied 15 kills while setter Kiana Rogers had 48 assists and 23 digs for her sixth double-double of the season.

Libero Kendalyn Hartsock anchored the back row with 24 digs with Christie Carpenter also tallying 15.

In the only win on the night, the Cougars started out on a 5-0 run in the second set led by Hamson with back-to-back kills to give the Cougars an 18-12 lead. Carpenter later tallied three-straight kills to bring the score to 23-16. Jessica Jardine finished off set two (25-19) with a kill.

Hamson finished set two leading the squad with six kills while Snow added four on .667 hitting. Rogers and Hartsock held up the back row with an impressive 12 and 10 kills, respectively, in the second set alone.

With an 8-2 start, the Cougars held off the Cowgirls in set four, sending the match to five sets. Carpenter’s power kill at 9-4 had the crowd on its feet, igniting the Fieldhouse for the rest of the match.

Despite hitting .312 in set one, over Wyoming’s .293, the Cougars gave too little too late, falling 25-22. The Cowgirls once again got off to a 7-1 lead to start set three with the Cougars unable to catch up, falling 25-18. A service ace at 20-all knotted the two teams with the Cougars finally falling in set four 26-24.

The Cougars will next host in-state rival Utah at 7 p.m. on Friday in the Smith Fieldhouse.

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.