Volleyball remains unbeaten; Coach Gream earns 200th win at Cowley

The wins continue to pile up for the No. 2-ranked Cowley College volleyball team as they went 2-0 at the Cowley Tri-Match played Saturday inside W.S. Scott Auditorium. The Lady Tigers opened with a 25-9, 25-12, 25-18 victory over NJCAA Division I opponent Cisco College before knocking off the Ottawa University JV 25-18, 25-12, 25-18.

In the first match against Cisco, Cowley raced out to a 12-3 lead and cruised to the 25-9 win of set one. The Lady Tigers again took a commanding lead in set two, leading 15-5 before winning 25-12. Cisco would lead 16-15 in set three. However, Cowley would finish the match on a 10-2 run to win 25-18.

"We played a very talented NJCAA DI team in Cisco who took our first set against us last year and played some talented NJCAA teams tough this year," Gream said. "We limited our unforced errors the whole match, which allowed us to pull away with the leads we had in each set."

Freshman Anna Kiss recorded her fourth double-double of the season, finishing with 10 kills and 10 digs in the win over Cisco. Sophomores Laci Beougher and Gyongyver Araczki also played well, finishing with 11 kills apiece.

Setting up the Tiger hitters was freshman Vivianna Solis, who had a match-high 40 assists.

"Vivianna did an excellent job balancing our attack and getting all of our hitters involved, which caused major problems for the Cisco defense," Gream said. "Gyongyver caused them problems with her attack and allowed us to open up our offense with our balanced attack."

The Lady Tigers returned to the court later in the day and took on a scrappy Ottawa University JV squad. After winning the opening set by a score of 25-18, Cowley trailed the second set by a score of 6-5. However, Cowley would score eight straight points and coast to the 25-12 win.

The Lady Tigers never trailed in set three yet were tied at 17-17 before scoring eight of the final nine points.

"Ottawa did not play like a typical JV program; they came to play and really put pressure on us," Gream said. "Our attack was still balanced but not quite as crisp as we would have liked it."

Cowley improves its record to 14-0 on the season.

Solis posted her seventh double-double of the season against Ottawa as she again had 40 assists to go along with 10 digs. Beougher also continued her strong play by adding a team-high 16 kills.

Sophomore Landry Cate had one of Cowley's nine service aces in the win and recently surpassed 100 aces in her career.

"This is a testament to Landry's hard work and our strong serving philosophy," Gream said. "

The victory makes Gream the fourth coach in the history of the Cowley College volleyball program to record 200 victories. The others were Deb Nittler (389 wins), Linda Hargrove (292 wins), and Joanna Pryor (218 wins), who are each in the Tiger Athletic Hall of Fame.

Cowley will remain home to take on Hesston College Monday at 6:30 p.m. The Larks are 1-6 overall and 0-3 in the Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division.

"Hesston is a member of our conference, and we always want to be on our 'A game' in those matches," Gream said. "We are looking to play to our standard of play and continue to get better each day. Hesston will come in and put up a fight, and we have to be prepared and ready for that."