Lady Tiger volleyball sweeps home invitational to improve to 21-0

The No. 2-ranked Cowley College volleyball team faced its first bit of adversity after dropping its first set of the season in a match against Cisco College (TX) Saturday inside W.S. Scott Auditorium. However, the Lady Tigers bounced back from the 27-25 loss of the opening set to defeat the Wranglers 25-27, 25-20, 25-17, 25-13 as they went 3-0 on the weekend and remain unbeaten on the season.

Cowley head coach Steven Gream was pleased with the way his team responded to dropping a set for the first time this season.

"Cisco came out firing and we had too many unforced errors that helped them out," Cowley head coach Steven Gream said. "After that first set we talked about controlling the things that we can control. The girls got fired up, righted the ship, and did a good job of limiting our unforced errors."

Cowley also defeated Carl Sandburg College 25-7, 25-13, 25-10 and Central Community College-Columbus 25-10, 25-7, 25-12 at the Cowley Invitational. The victories improve the Lady Tigers' record to 21-0 on the season.

"This tournament allowed us to work on some things," Gream said. "The match against Cisco taught us how to execute under pressure."

Lady Tigers' Gyongyver Araczki, Laci Beougher, Iva Halacheva, and Rossana Papa were named to the Cowley Invitational All-Tournament team. These selections were voted on by the coaches in the tournament.

For the Tournament Araczki hit .367 with 21 kills, three aces, 12 blocks, and seven digs. Beougher hit .386 with 38 kills, six blocks, and six digs. Also during the tournament, Beougher reached 200 career kills at Cowley and had a season high 19 kills against Cisco.

Halacheva hit .494 with 49 kills, four aces, eight digs, and two blocks. While, Papa hit .667 with six kills, 132 assists at 13.20 assists per set, nine aces, six blocks, and 18 digs. She recorded a season high 58 assists against Cisco.

"All four of those players had good weekends and hit for a high percentage," Gream said. "I believe we could have had the entire team on that list as everyone contributed on the weekend."

Cowley will host a struggling Independence Community College squad Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. The Lady Pirates have lost nine matches in a row and are 3-18 on the season.