Lauterwasser Named to Preseason All-Mountain West Team

LAS VEGAS, Nev., -- Paige Lauterwasser is no stranger to accolades.

The previous two seasons have culminated with all-conference honors on and off the court. So it's no surprise that the league Wednesday added the senior outside hitter to its 2026 preseason All-Mountain West team.

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Wyoming, as a team, was also picked to finish fourth overall (69 points), behind only Grand Canyon (70) and newly-added institutions UC Davis (80) and preseason favorites, UTEP (84).

The latter two programs will play al four games in Laramie as part of a new scheduling model. Fourth-year head coach Kaylee Prigge quipped that "The Mountain West volleyball gods had us in mind this year."

Hawai’i, with 67 points, rounded-out the Top Five. Wyoming is coming off a third-place finish last season after going 13-5. The 13 MW wins are the most for the Cowgirls since 2019.

"There's a shift in general. I think last year we were a little bit of an underdog, and I don't think that's going to be the case this year," Prigge told gowyo.com, referring to expectations for her team. "There's a much bigger target on our back, as we return the highest finishing team in the Mountain West that's staying. We've talked about that mentality shift a lot and how we're going to handle it. I'm excited about that challenge and opportunity."

Lauterwasser, who was one of four Cowgirls to play in all 117 sets last fall, led the team with 314 kills (2.68 per set) and was second on the team with 368 digs (3.15) and 362.5 points. In league play, Lauterwasser averaged 2.75 kills per set, while hitting .215. She also averaged 3.36 digs per and was second on UW with 15 service aces.

The Naperville, Ill., native is just 22 points shy of reaching 1,000 points for her career.

The Cowgirls play Northern Colorado in a pair of exhibitions this weekend.

UW and the Bears will play at 6 p.m., Aug. 21 and that will be open to the public. The two teams will play a closed exhibition match, Saturday, Aug. 22. Wyoming officially opens the season with the Rumble in the Rockies Aug. 28 against Texas Tech at 6:30 p.m., and St. Thomas at 1:30 p.m., Aug. 30. Both matches will be played in the Arena-Auditorium.

Watch Wyoming Athletics all season long on the MW+ with all UW home games and all MW conference games on the state of the art app. Fans will also find replays of games, Ragtime Replays featuring great contests in Wyoming history along with other exclusive content. A majority of each subscription purchased through Wyoming's dedicated page will directly support Wyoming Athletics and the Cowboy Joe Club, creating a scalable and sustainable revenue opportunity aligned with fan engagement.

* A UW press release contributed to this article