Lady Tiger volleyball team lets one slip away in loss to Highland

The Cowley College volleyball team had its four-match winning streak come to an end with a gut-wrenching 17-25, 30-28, 25-22, 24-26, 13-15 loss to No. 12-ranked Highland Community College Thursday inside W.S. Scott Auditorium.

The loss was a tough one for the Lady Tigers as they had three set point opportunities to win the match in set four and then led 13-10 in set five before losing.

"We rose to the occasion, we just could not finish," Cowley head coach Steven Gream said. "It was a heartbreaker in that we gave ourselves a chance to win."

The loss drops Cowley's record to 13-9 overall and 8-9 in the Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division.

After dropping the first set in convincing fashion, the Lady Tigers faced going down two sets to none as they trailed 24-21 and 28-27 before scoring three straight points to win set two, 30-28.

"I was proud of the way the kids bounced back after an awful first set," Gream said.

With a 25-22 win of set three, Cowley was on the verge of winning the match as they led 24-21 in set four. However, the Scotties staved off defeat by scoring five straight points.

Again, Cowley closed in on winning the match in set five as they built a 13-10 lead. Needing only two more points to win, the Lady Tigers again failed to close the match as Highland scored five straight points to win 15-13.

"We kept thinking we were going to get that one more point, but Highland defended us well and we just didn't get a ball to go down," Gream said.

Sophomore Iva Halacheva led Cowley with 37 kills, while freshmen Maddy Pitts and Macy Shreffler added 17 kills apiece.

The victory snapped a two-match losing streak for the Scotties and improved their record to 12-4 overall and 11-4 in the Jayhawk East.

Cowley will play a pair of matches Monday in Coffeyville. The Lady Tigers will face Coffeyville (8-8) at 3 p.m. before taking on Metropolitan College at 5 p.m. The Lady Tigers defeated both teams in straight sets earlier this season.

"Coffeyville will look to put pressure on us with their attack," Gream said. "We need to play with the same kind of energy we had against Highland, but this time be able to finish."