Lady Tigers move to 40-0, advance to national tournament semifinals

Led by three players in double figures in kills, the top-seeded Cowley College volleyball team defeated eighth-seeded Kirkwood Community College (IA) 25-18, 25-17, 25-18 in Thursday night's quarterfinal match played at the NJCAA Division II National Championships held at the Alliant Energy Powerhouse in Cedar Rapids, IA.

The victory improves Cowley's record to 40-0 and marks the fourth time in program history that the Lady Tigers have reached the 40-win plateau. Kirkwood falls to 27-13.

Cowley advances to Friday's semifinal match where they will take on conference rival Johnson County at 6:30 p.m. The Lady Cavaliers are 31-6 on the season.

On Thursday, Cowley never trailed in the 25-18 opening set win. Once again, in set two, the Lady Tigers scored the first three points and never trailed in the 25-17 victory.

Trailing for the first time in the match at 2-1 in set three, Cowley would score 11 of the next 14 points to lead 12-5 following a service ace by Rachele Tessari. The Lady Tigers would remain in control and finished off the victory with a kill by freshman Lai Beougher.

Sophomore Iva Halacheva led Cowley with 18 kills, while Beougher and Tessari added 12 and 11 kills, respectively. Freshman setter Rossana Papa did another stellar job setting up the Lady Tiger hitters as she finished with 44 assists to go along with a team-high 13 digs.

Cowley out-hit Kirkwood .342 to .194 and had 11 service aces on the match.

The Lady Tigers faced Johnson County just once during the regular season as they defeated the Lady Cavaliers 25-23, 25-10, 25-22 in the conference opener for both teams.

The winner of tonight's match will advance to play for the NJCAA Division II National Championship Saturday at 6:30 p.m.